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Promotor:Prof. dr. A. NiehofHoogleraar Sociologie van Consumenten en Huishoudens, Wageningen Universiteit

Co-promotor:Prof. dr. P.M.J. TerpstraHoogleraar Consumententechnologie en Productgebruik, Wageningen Universiteit

Samenstelling promotiecommissie:Prof. dr. C.M.J. van WoerkumHoogleraar Communicatie en Innovatie Studies, Wageningen Universiteit

Prof. dr. ir. A.F. van WagenbergBuitengewoon hoogleraar Facilitaire Dienstverlening bij de Leerstoelgroep Economievan Consumenten en Huishoudens, Wageningen Universiteit

Mw. Prof. dr. J. van Doorne-HuiskesHoogleraar Emacipatie-onderzoek, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

Dr. H.P. LyonSenior lecturer School of Management and Consumer Studies, University of Dundee,Scotland

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The impact oftelecommuting on thedivision of labour in thedomestic setting

Gerda J. Casimir

Proefschriftter verkrijging van de graad van doctorop gezag van de rector magnificusvan Wageningen Universiteit,prof. dr. ir. L. Speelman,in het openbaar te verdedigenop vrijdag 2 november 2001des namiddags te vier uur in de Aula.

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© Gerda Casimir, 2001

Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden verveelvoudigd en/of openbaar gemaakt door mid-del van druk,fotokopie of op welke wijze dan ook, zonder voorafgaande schriftelijketoestemming van de auteur.No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,by print,photo-print,microfilm orany other means without prior written permission of the author.

ISBN 90-5808-487-6

Contents

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Contents

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ...................................................................................9

FOREWORD......................................................................................................................11

1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................15

1.1. PROLOGUE: BOUNDARIES BETWEEN WORK AND LEISURE TIME.....................................151.2. WHY STUDY TELECOMMUTING.....................................................................................161.3. THE RESEARCH PROJECT...............................................................................................16

1.3.1. Organisation..................................................................................................161.3.2. Research questions and preliminary assumptions.........................................171.3.3. Research method ...........................................................................................17

1.4. STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS...........................................................................................18

THE SONG OF THE SHIRT............................................................................................20

2. TELEWORK: DEFINITIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS........................................21

2.1. DEFINITIONS OF TELEWORK..........................................................................................212.2. TELECOMMUTING IN RELATION TO TRADITIONAL HOME-WORKING ..............................24

2.2.1. Home-located production ..............................................................................242.2.2. Traditional home-working.............................................................................252.2.3. Similarities and differences ...........................................................................26

2.3. DEVELOPMENT OF TELEWORK......................................................................................302.4. TELECOMMUTING IN PRACTICE: FINDINGS AND STATISTICS..........................................31

2.4.1. Telecommuters’ jobs......................................................................................312.4.2. Goals and motives .........................................................................................322.4.3. Numbers.........................................................................................................342.4.4. Future growth................................................................................................34

3. TELECOMMUTING IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIETAL CHANGE.................37

3.1. SOCIETAL CHANGE .......................................................................................................373.1.1. From industrial to information society..........................................................373.1.2. Structural changes.........................................................................................393.1.3. Cultural changes ...........................................................................................433.1.4. Changes on an individual level......................................................................46

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3.1.5. Development of technology ...........................................................................493.1.6. The interrelation of the four perspectives......................................................52

3.2. TELECOMMUTING AND SOCIETAL CHANGE ...................................................................523.2.1. Structural aspects ..........................................................................................533.2.2. Cultural aspects.............................................................................................553.2.3. Individual aspects ..........................................................................................573.2.4. Technological aspects....................................................................................593.2.5. Telecommuting in context ..............................................................................60

4. THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF HOUSEHOLD STUDIES .................61

4.1. HOME ECONOMICS........................................................................................................614.1.1. A model..........................................................................................................624.1.2. Household activities ......................................................................................634.1.3. The household................................................................................................684.1.4. Standard of care ............................................................................................714.1.5. Resources.......................................................................................................764.1.6. Level of care and wellbeing...........................................................................824.1.7. Feed back: strategies to cope ........................................................................83

4.2. ACTUAL TRENDS IN DUTCH HOUSEKEEPING .................................................................854.2.1. Changing household activities.......................................................................864.2.2. Changing households ....................................................................................884.2.3. Changing standard of care ............................................................................894.2.4. Changing resources.......................................................................................904.2.5. Assessment of changes...................................................................................914.2.6. Applied strategies ..........................................................................................92

5. TELECOMMUTING AND HOUSEHOLD: EXPLORING THE FIELD..............93

5.1. BLURRING BOUNDARIES: TELECOMMUTING AND THE HOUSEHOLD ..............................935.2. EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATIONS ..................................................................................96

5.2.1. Interviews and focus group discussion ..........................................................965.2.2. IDC-survey and expert interviews .................................................................98

5.3. HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES DONE BY TELECOMMUTERS ...................................................985.4. HOUSEHOLD, FAMILY LIFE COURSE AND TELECOMMUTING ........................................1015.5. CHANGING NORMS AND VALUES ................................................................................1035.6. RESOURCES AND TELECOMMUTING ............................................................................106

5.6.1. Time .............................................................................................................1065.6.2. Human resources.........................................................................................1085.6.3. Money, goods and services ..........................................................................1085.6.4. Space ...........................................................................................................109

5.7. ASSESSMENT ..............................................................................................................1115.8. STRATEGIES REGARDING TELECOMMUTING................................................................1135.9. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES...................................................................114

5.9.1. Refining the research questions...................................................................1145.9.2. Hypotheses...................................................................................................115

6. METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS AND STUDY DESIGN...................................117

6.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...............................................................................................1176.2. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS .......................................................................................1176.3. INTERNET SURVEYS ....................................................................................................118

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6.3.1. Advantages ..................................................................................................1186.3.2. Disadvantages .............................................................................................119

6.4. POPULATION AND SAMPLE..........................................................................................1206.5. OPERATIONALISATION................................................................................................120

6.5.1. The household..............................................................................................1226.5.2. Employment situation ..................................................................................1236.5.3. Resources.....................................................................................................1246.5.4. Standard of care ..........................................................................................1266.5.5. Household activities: division of labour......................................................1296.5.6. Assessment...................................................................................................1306.5.7. Strategies: tuning actual and desired situation ...........................................1316.5.8. Concluding questions ..................................................................................132

6.6. DATA COLLECTION .....................................................................................................1326.6.1. The technique...............................................................................................1326.6.2. Approaching respondents ............................................................................133

6.7. METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS ....................................................................................134

7. RESULTS OF THE SURVEY...................................................................................137

7.1. RESPONDENTS' CHARACTERISTICS .............................................................................1377.1.1. General characteristics ...............................................................................1377.1.2. Resources.....................................................................................................141Motives and opinions................................................................................................148

7.2. CHANGES IN EXTERNAL DIVISION OF LABOUR ............................................................1567.3. CHANGES IN INTERNAL DIVISION OF LABOUR .............................................................158

7.3.1. Participation in nine household tasks..........................................................1587.3.2. Gender differences in the division of labour within households..................1637.3.3. Relation to other characteristics..................................................................1697.3.4. Summarising the answers to the main research question ............................171

7.4. ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK .....................................................................................1737.4.1. Assessment...................................................................................................1737.4.2. Strategies used.............................................................................................178

7.5. THE HYPOTHESES .......................................................................................................1807.5.1. Symmetry and asymmetry ............................................................................1807.5.2. Changing attitudes.......................................................................................180

8. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION......................................................................183

8.1. A TYPOLOGY OF HOUSEHOLDS ...................................................................................1838.1.1. Becoming more asymmetrical: more work for mother ................................1848.1.2. No changes, male telecommuter: shared responsibility ..............................1848.1.3. No changes, female telecommuter: continued gender differences...............1858.1.4. Becoming more symmetrical: men taking over............................................1858.1.5. Discussing the outcomes..............................................................................186

8.2. METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................................1868.3. RESPONDENTS’ CHARACTERISTICS .............................................................................189

8.3.1. Gender differences.......................................................................................1898.3.2. Earner type and education ..........................................................................190

8.4. NORMATIVE CONTEXT................................................................................................1908.5. THE HOUSEHOLD PERSPECTIVE...................................................................................1928.6. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH...........................................................193

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8.7. EPILOGUE: BLURRING BOUNDARIES ...........................................................................194

REFERENCES.................................................................................................................197

ADDENDUM: OPERATIONALISATION ...................................................................221

A. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS..........................................................................................221The household...........................................................................................................221Employment situation ...............................................................................................222

B. POSSESSION AND USE OF RESOURCES .............................................................................224Availability ...............................................................................................................224Changes in application.............................................................................................225

C. MOTIVES AND OPINIONS TO WORK AT HOME ..................................................................226Standard of care .......................................................................................................226

D. CHANGES IN HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES.............................................................................228Internal division of labour........................................................................................228

E. ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK .........................................................................................230Assessment................................................................................................................230Strategies ..................................................................................................................231

F. FINAL QUESTIONS AND REMARKS ...................................................................................232

SAMENVATTING IN HET NEDERLANDS................................................................233

TELEWERKEN EN HUISHOUDING..........................................................................................233TELEWERKEN......................................................................................................................233THEORETISCH KADER: HUISHOUDKUNDIG MODEL ..............................................................234TELETHUISWERK EN HUISHOUDING: EEN EERSTE VERKENNING ..........................................235ONDERZOEKSONTWERP ......................................................................................................236RESULTATEN VAN DE ENQUÊTE ..........................................................................................237

Kenmerken van de respondenten..............................................................................237Externe taakverdeling...............................................................................................237Interne taakverdeling................................................................................................238

TYPOLOGIE .........................................................................................................................240BESPREKING VAN DE RESULTATEN .....................................................................................241DOOR TELEWERKEN VERVAGEN DE GRENZEN .....................................................................242

VOORWOORD IN HET NEDERLANDS.....................................................................245

CURRICULUM VITAE..................................................................................................249

SCIENTIFIC AND OTHER RELATED PUBLICATIONS OF G.J. CASIMIR .....................................251

STELLINGEN..................................................................................................................253

List of tables and figures

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Table 2-1: Estimations of numbers of telecommuters 34Figure 2-1: Telecommuters in the USA 35Table 3-1: Yearly media use of US households 39Table 3-2: Change of techno-economic paradigm 41Figure 4-1: The Home Economics Model 62Figure 4-2: Task or time-oriented versus family or career-oriented. 74Table 4-1: Time budgets 1998 87Figure 6–1: The operationalisation of the concept 'Appreciation of Greentown’ 121Figure 6–2: Part of the operationalisation process of this research 122Figure 6–3: Operationalisation of household 122Figure 6–4: Operationalisation of employment situation 124Figure 6–5: Degree of urbanisation 125Figure 6–6: Operationalisation of availability of resources 125Figure 6–7: Operationalisation of changes in allocation of resources 126Figure 6–8: Operationalisation of standard of care 127Table 6–1: Time spent on different tasks 130Figure 6–9: Operationalisation of internal division of labour 130Figure 6–10: Operationalisation of assessment of changes 131Figure 6–11: Operationalisation of strategies 132Figure 6–12: Concluding questions 132Table 7–1: Age of respondents in this research and in the Netherlands 138Figure 7–1: Size of households in percentages of total 138Table 7–2: Working hours of paid jobs 139Table 7–3: Hours and days worked at home; percentages of total respondents 140Table 7–4: Telecommuting situation 140Table 7–5: Can you determine your own working hours? 141Table 7–6: Possession and financing of equipment and facilities 143Table 7–7: Use of facilities for other purposes 144Table 7–8: Distance to employer's office 145Table 7–9: Did living conditions play a role, related to commuting distance 145Table 7–10: Degree of calculated and perceived urbanisation 146Table 7–11: Changes in time and expenditures since working at home 147Table 7–12: Family oriented motives and opinions 149Table 7–13: Family orientation, combined score 149Table 7–14: Career-oriented motives and opinions 151


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Table 7–15: Career orientation 151Table 7–16: Task and time-oriented opinions 152Table 7–17: Motives and opinions relating to egalitarianism 153Table 7−18: Egalitarian attitude, combined score 153Table 7–19: Motives and opinions on integration and separation 154Table 7–20: Several motives and opinions concerning telecommuting 155Table 7–21: Changes in paid labour since telecommuting 156Table 7–22: Changes in the division between household and market 158Table 7–23: Who does what? 159Table 7–24: Who does what; respondents who answered ‘me’ 161Figure 7–2: Tasks performed by male and female telecommuters before and after the startof telecommuting 162Table 7–25: Increase of activities 163Figure 7–3: Tasks performed by male and female partners 164Table 7–26: Tasks performed by male and female partners 165Table 7–27: Comparison of this research with 1990 SCP time budget research 166Figure 7–4: Number of tasks performed by men and women 167Table 7–28: Symmetry before and after telecommuting 168Figure 7–5: Changes in symmetry, percentages of family households 169Table 7–29: Changes in symmetry related to selected respondents’ characteristics 170Table 7–30: Overview of changes in symmetry related to selected characteristics 172Table 7–31: Assessment, family orientation 174Table 7–32: Family orientation: attitude and practice 174Figure 7-6: Family orientation, percentages of respondents agreeing to specifiedstatements 175Table 7–33: Assessment, task and time orientation 176Figure 7-7: Assessment, task and time orientation 177Table 7–34: Assessment, remaining questions 177Table 7–35: Summarising questions 179Figure 8–1: Typology of households 184

Foreword

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Foreword

"Do you know what you should do? You must get your PhD", said my colleague RenéKapr somewhere in 1994. That was also the opinion of my neighbour Wim van denBerg, who talked with me about the subject once a year. I only wanted to do it if I hada subject that captivated me enough and that I thought to be of sufficient societal rele-vance. That subject had to combine the information and communication technology(ICT) and household studies. The first because I was working in that field on a dailybasis at the School of Communication Systems (SvC) in Utrecht, the second because Iwas educated in it at Wageningen University.

'The changing of housekeeping under the influence of ICT' was such a theme, butmy supervisor Paul Terpstra, holder of the chair of consumer technology and productuse, said: "I do not know if you will become old enough to research all that." ICT wasdelimited to tele(home)work; housekeeping was narrowed to the division of labourwithin the home, in particular the division of labour between men and women. Sincethis was more a sociological than a technological study, Anke Niehof, professor insociology of consumers and households, became my promoter.

Now I had a subject and two supervisors. The structure within which the projectcould be executed was offered by the project 'unpaid doctorate program for women' ofWageningen University. This project provides eight women with the fringe benefits ofresearch assistants and the status of guest employee of the university. As a result of thisI got an office at the department, and became part of the group of research assistants.The lunch and dinner discussions with Arianne Baanders, Iris Keasberry, KatrienLuijkx, Gerry van Nieuwenhoven, Danny Roozemond and Diana Uitdenbogerd helpedme very much in the development of my ideas.

Although the subject of my research did not directly stem from the needs of theSchool of Communication Systems, those two areas did influence each other. First, thedesk search increased my knowledge, which no doubt made me a better teacher. Lec-turing research methodology, I could enliven the lessons with examples from my ownexperience. Second, during the different conferences on telework, I always came acrosspeople who could offer trainee posts, interesting assignments for projects or guest lec-tures for the School of Communication Systems. In this respect I want to mention Kittyde Bruin, Phil Lyon, Herman Leijdesdorff and Bert Alkemade. Third, it seemed a logi-cal choice to let a student of the SvC transform my questionnaire to an Internet appli-cation. Martijn van Rooyen did this in an outstanding way. Officially, the school did

Foreword

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not offer more than an unpaid leave for one day per week for the duration of the proj-ect. Unofficially, my respective managers Ben Philipsen, Djujan Bijstra and Arnoudvan de Vijver, supported me morally, and Cita Buitenhuis always reckoned with mysecond ‘job’ when making the teaching schedules.

The international conferences, both in the area of Home Economics (Dundee,Wageningen), and in the area of ICT and telework (Copenhagen, Rome, Turku, Tokyoand Amsterdam) not only brought me knowledge and contacts, but also served as amilestone to have some parts finished and as a check if I was doing the right things.The Best Academic Paper Award that I won in Finland, was the ultimate proof of this.Winning this prize was not only nice for myself, but felt as a compliment for homeeconomics in its entirety. It meant that the household is worth to be studied and that thesubject area contributes to the international discussion.

The empirical part of this study could only be executed with the help of interview-ees and respondents. I would like to thank them all for their generous co-operation.Most of them I found via the Dutch Telewerkforum that provided the addresses oforganisations with telework projects and sent a letter of recommendation for me. Driesvan Wagenberg, holder of the endowed chair Facility Management at WageningenUniversity, also helped finding respondents. In 1996, IDC-Benelux offered the oppor-tunity to put some questions in their questionnaire on computer property and use inexchange for a contribution to their report on telework and mobile computing.

My promoter, Anke Niehof, contributed to a large extent to the quality of this dis-sertation. She read my concepts very thoroughly and her comments ranged from lay-out and editorial remarks to suggestions for literature or the structure of the disserta-tion. These remarks were always helpful and improved the work. The critical notes ofPaul Terpstra were certainly as valuable. His strength was delimitation. Of inestimablevalue was the contribution of Phil Lyon. His comments far surpassed the Englishgrammar, which he had offered to correct. With a polite “You are Anke's student,but...” or “I realise that I am not your supervisor and I have only a UK perspective onPhD dissertations,” he had a large influence on the order and content of the text. Be-sides that he kept encouraging me when I lost my self-confidence and he cheered meup with his Internet jokes. Phil, thank you so much for your tele-support. If you findany 'broken English' in this dissertation, I must have added it after you saw it. The ap-pearance of this dissertation I owe to my Utrecht colleague Inge Schaareman, whoproved to be able to capture the content of this thesis in one image. Her design makesyou feel cheerful, and that is good, because at the end of the project I almost forgotwith how much pleasure I worked on it.

In the final phase my friends, neighbours and the editors of the Icelandic HorseMagazine came to the aid, by cooking dinner for me or taking me out, by repairing mycollapsed bookcase and my fences, by bringing up ideas for conclusions and listeningto me, by calling me up in the middle of the night and talking me to sleep, by takingover tasks from me and spare me if necessary. They took care that I got some physicalexercise when a started to grow fat, they encouraged me and reassured me. They madesure that I did not become a hermit, and, above all, they made me laugh at momentsthat the tears were very near the surface. I cannot name everybody in person and do notwant to omit anyone. Therefore, I only mention here my two best friends: Roelie vanOpijnen and Corrie Brussé. Your names are connected with relaxation, above all dur-

Foreword

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ing the many holidays I spent with both of you. Girls, thanks for your guidance anddistraction.

It is regrettable that my father cannot be present. Shortly before his death he thor-oughly searched his rather extensive collection of poetry to find ‘The song of the shirt’.He was determined to find it, because he was of the opinion that I neglected the simi-larities of telework and traditional home employment. His efforts were rewarded andthe result surprised him: the poem appeared to be more than 50 years older than heremembered. It would have pleased him to see that this song obtained a prominentplace in the telework chapter. My mother – with whom he was married over 66 years –will attend the public defence of my dissertation, I expect in good health. She neverobtained a doctor's degree herself, but she could have easily, if she had not chosen tobe a mother and spouse in the first place. I want to dedicate this dissertation to her.

Rhenen,September 2001

Introduction

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1. Introduction

1.1. Prologue: boundaries between work and leisure timeSince the industrial revolution most of the working population earns its money outsidethe home, being employed by a smaller or bigger company. Since that time an almoststrict separation between public and private sphere is effective. Free time is a rathernew phenomenon, especially meaningful as opposed to (paid) work. Even if one likesto go to his or her work and even if one has all kinds of freedom in the work, being freemeans being at home, or in any case being not at work. Hareven (1982) writes in Fam-ily time & industrial time:

'Family and work, the two most central commitments in most people's lives, haveemerged as themes in recent social history, but the relationship between thesetwo areas has not been closely considered' (Hareven 1982: xi).

Lately, there is evidence that boundaries between work and leisure time are blurringagain. Working time and leisure time are not inevitably excluding each other. Workand free time can have different connotations: people feel sometimes more free in theirwork or especially tied to their duties at home. One of the interviewees in this research,having two children who are often ill, is glad when she can close the door of her study.‘It is my turn now’, she says. One of the others likes to go to the office of her employer:‘There I am Ellen again, a person; at home it is Mama, Mama, Mama.’ The graphicaldesigner who works at home starts cooking or cleaning when his work does not prog-ress. ‘It seems that I am able to separate those two spheres, but that is not the case.While I am doing the dishes, the design advances in the background.’

Technological innovations and changing managerial strategies, are opening up newpossibilities for home-working. Bridging distance and time, the new technologies bringwork and leisure time - public and private sphere –closer together, both physically andemotionally. As we shall see in this study, this situation both has its advantages and itsdrawbacks.

Introduction

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1.2. Why study telecommutingIn the 1990s, telecommuting, mobile computing and other varieties of flexible workbecome more and more common. Felstead and Jewson (2000) give many reasons whythis field should be explored. One reason is the world-wide increase of home-workers.The growth of different types of teleworking is part of a larger shift in the character oflabour markets which has resulted in the proliferation of 'non-standard' employment.Working at home has sometimes been portrayed as a utopian solution to the principalill of modern society, promising to restore work satisfaction and rejuvenate familyrelations. On the other hand some academic researchers have highlighted the poorterms and conditions, the relative disadvantage compared to workplace peers, and thestresses home-workers encounter in reconciling 'two worlds in one'. Juggling the de-mands of paid employment and domestic life in the same locale calls forth distinctivecoping strategies that shape the emotional and psychological dispositions of home-located producers. This asks for more research as well.

Working at home poses problems for conventional modes of labour organisation,control and surveillance that are of interest to both trade unions and management. Al-though the attitudes of home-located producers have much in common with the per-sonality types currently demanded by 'leading edge' managerial ideologies, employersoften appear to regard working at home as problematic. The growth of home-locatedproduction raises a raft of social policy issues – including such matters as transporta-tion, urban and rural planning, architectural design, electronic infrastructure, commer-cial property values, health and safety, and employment law (Felstead and Jewson2000).

Despite the significance of these trends, home-located production and home-working remain under-researched. Researches on telecommuting have primary beenfocused on productivity, traffic reduction or aspects of management. Fewer are orien-tated towards environmental planning and little is reported on consequences within thehome. Literature suggests that telecommuting could lead to a shift in the division ofcaring tasks and paid labour. But the little research that is done in this respect shows noreal changes in division of labour and roles (De Vries & Weijers 1998). Fothergill(1994) and V. Frissen (1999) wonder whether telecommuting does not even preservethe existing division.

This topic – the effect of telecommuting on the division of labour within the home –is the main subject of this study. The subject is approached from the angle of homeeconomics or household studies, drawing very much on the discipline of sociology.

1.3. The research project

1.3.1. OrganisationAs a teacher at the School of Communication Systems, a program for higher educationat the Hogeschool van Utrecht, the Netherlands, I was involved in telecommunicationsand came into contact with telework projects. Being a trained home economist, theabove-mentioned discussion about labour division was likely to emerge. The depart-ment of household and consumer studies of Wageningen University, where I graduated

Introduction

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in 1977, was interested too. After some preliminary discussion at the department, itwas decided to set up the study as a PhD project under the supervision of the professorsof Sociology of Consumers and Households and Consumer Technology and ProductUse, acting as promoter and co-promoter respectively.

The research has been conducted within the Wageningen University project 'Unpaiddoctorate program for women', which provides eight women with the fringe benefits ofresearch assistants: room, supervision, an account on the university network and print-ing facilities, funding for study, etceteras. The project ran from October 1995 throughOctober 2001, spending three days a week on it.

1.3.2. Research questions and preliminary assumptionsWhen starting the research, telework was already an item on the agenda of policy mak-ers and managers, but the actual diffusion of the phenomenon was not very large. Nev-ertheless, several research institutions – universities, public research institutes andinstitutes related to labour unions – conducted researches on telework. The focus wasmainly on work conditions, productivity, environmental gains and savings on travelexpenses. Few researches concentrated on the home of the teleworkers, their partnersand on consequences for the division of labour. This research aimed at filling this gap.

It was assumed that household activities – including the division of labour withinthe household – would change as a consequence of telecommuting. The question waswhich activities would change to what extent, and what role gender and other tele-commuters’ characteristics would play in these changes.

1.3.3. Research methodOn the basis of these first ideas interviews and a group discussion were carried out inthe early spring of 1996. Both the interviews and the group discussion focused onhousehold activities, childcare, time management and use of domestic space. Differ-ences between men and women were also a topic. The interviews and discussion led tomore specific questions on the division of labour and the content of household activi-ties.

IDC-Benelux, a research institute on IT and communications markets, was willingto put some of these questions in its survey on computer property and computer use inthe summer of 1996. This research was held among 1000 Dutch households. In ex-change I wrote – together with Sonja Vernooij – their report on telework and mobilecomputers, in which expert interviews on telework were incorporated (Vernooij enCasimir 1996, Casimir 1997d).

In the years that followed the theoretical framework was developed, using the inter-views and the outcome of the IDC-questions as a point of reference (Casimir 1998).This resulted in refined research questions and the hypothesis that telecommutingwould reinforce the asymmetry of asymmetrical households, unless telecommutingexplicitly is applied as a

strategy of men to undertake more household chores. Also a change in attitude to-wards paid and unpaid labour was hypothesised.

Introduction

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The research questions and the concepts in the hypotheses were operationalised in asurvey. This survey was put on the Internet in October 1999 (Casimir 1999). The firstdata came in during the last months of 1999. In the course of 2000, in particular in theautumn, more respondents filled in the questionnaire. In January 2001 171 valid ques-tionnaires were returned. The analysis presented in this thesis is based on those 171cases.

1.4. Structure of the thesisThe above mentioned activities are documented and elaborated in the following chap-ters. Chapter 2 (Telework) gives an overview of the many definitions of telework andtelecommuting. Home-working is not a new phenomenon, but tele-home-working is inmany respects different from traditional home-working. The similarities and differ-ences are described, as well as the developments in telecommuting since its introduc-tion in the 1970s. The chapter concludes with the state of the art of telecommuting inthe Netherlands: the kind of jobs telecommuters tend to have, the goals and motives ofthe different parties involved, the number of current telecommuters and the expectedfuture growth.

In Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change) the interrelationbetween telecommuting and general societal changes is elaborated. First, the develop-ment of industrialisation and the separation of home and work is described. Then mod-ernity is approached from four different perspectives: structural, cultural, individualand technological, all of which show paradoxes. For instance, increase of scale occurssimultaneously with scaling down; people are becoming more dependent of others andcherish their privacy at the same time.

Chapter 4 (Theoretical framework of home economics) contains the theoreticalframework from the viewpoint of home economics. The elements of the home eco-nomics model of Zuidberg – household, standard of care, resources, level of care, well-being, and feed back – are worked out. Emphasis is put on attitudes towards paid andunpaid labour, and on the gendered division of labour within the household. The sec-ond part of this chapter describes actual trends in Dutch housekeeping, applying theconcepts discussed in the first part.

In Chapter 5 (Exploring the field) the interrelation of telecommuting and householdactivities is discussed, based on literature, exploratory interviews and the results of theIDC survey questions. The concepts described in Chapter 4 (Theoretical framework),serve as the guiding principle for this chapter. The exploring investigations lead to arefinement of the research questions and the formulation of the main hypothesis, whichis that telecommuting reinforces the asymmetry of asymmetrical households. Thismeans that in households in which the wife performs most of the domestic labour,telecommuting entails more domestic labour for her, irrespective if she or he is thetelecommuter. A second hypothesis concerns the attitudes towards paid and unpaidwork. It is assumed that under the influence of telecommuting the attitude towards paidlabour becomes more task-oriented, and the attitude towards unpaid, domestic labourbecomes more time-oriented.

The operationalisation of the research questions is to be found in Chapter 6 (Meth-odological aspects). Each concept of the home economics model is translated into con-

Introduction

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crete terms, by attributing one or more elements to each concept. For every elementseveral indicators are devised. The indicators lead to items or questions that subse-quently lead to answer categories, constituting the actual questionnaire. The question-naire has been put on the Internet, in such a way that respondents could complete it online, thus directly transmitting their answers to a database. The advantages and disad-vantages of Internet-surveys – among other methodological considerations concerningthe survey – are also part of this chapter.

The results of the survey are reviewed in Chapter 7 (Results). First, general charac-teristics of the responding telecommuters are described, such as education, income andtheir telework situation. Then the research questions are addressed. Household activi-ties are related to respondents’ characteristics as gender, earner type, composition ofthe household and normative context. The chapter concludes with the acceptance andrejection of the hypotheses.

The results of the survey lead to the identification of four household types, whichare described in Chapter 8 (Conclusions and discussion): households of female tele-commuters becoming more asymmetrical, households of both male and female tele-commuters with no changes in symmetry, and households of male telecommutersbecoming more symmetrical. In the discussion these four types are linked to the theo-retical notions developed in former parts of the study. Thus the study ends how it be-gan, with the relation between family and work, between paid and unpaid labour, andwith the way these areas are interrelated by the introduction and application of infor-mation and communication technologies.

The Song of the Shirt(Thomas Hood, 1843)

With fingers weary and worn,With eyelids heavy and red,

A Woman sat, in unwomanly rags.Plying her needle and thread –

Stitch ! stitch ! stitch !In poverty, hunger, and dirt,And still with a voice of dolorous pitchShe sang the “Song of the Shirt !”

“Work ! work ! work !While the cock is crowing aloof !

And work – work – work,Till the stars shine through the roof !

It’s O ! to be a slaveAlong with the barbarous Turk,

Where woman has never a soul to save,If this is Christian work !

“Work – work – workTill the brain begins to swim,

Work – work – workTill the eyes are heavy and dim !Seam, and gusset, and band,

Band, and gusset, and seam,Till over the buttons I fall asleep

And sew them on in a dream !

“O, Men with Sisters dear !O, Men ! with Mothers and Wives !

It is not linen you’re wearing out,But human creatures’ lives !

Stitch – stitch – stitch,In poverty, hunger, and dirt,

Sewing at once, with a double thread,A Shroud as well as a Shirt.

“But why do I talk of Death?That Phantom of grisly bone,

I hardly fear his terrible shape,It seems so like my own –It seems so like my own,Because of the fasts I keep;

O God ! that bread should be so dear,And flesh and blood so cheap !

“Work – work – work !My labour never flags;

And what are its wages ? A bed of straw,A crust of bread – and rags.

That shatter’d roof, – and this naked floor –A table – a broken chair –

And a wall so blank, my shadow I thankFor sometimes falling there !

“Work – work – work !From weary chime to chime,

Work – work – work –As prisoners work for crime !

Band, and gusset, and seam,Seam, and gusset, and band,

Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumb’d,As well as the weary hand.

“Work – work – work,In the dull December light,

And work – work – work,When the weather is warm and bright –While underneath the eaves

The brooding swallows cling,As if to show me their sunny backs

And twit me with the spring.

“O, but to breathe the breathOf the cowslip and primrose sweet ! –

With the sky above my head,And the grass beneath my feet;For only one short hour

To feel as I used to feel,Before I knew the woes of want

And the walk that costs a meal !

“O but for one short hour !A respite however brief !

No blessed leisure for Love and Hope,But only time for Grief !

A little weeping would ease my heart,But in their briny bed

My tears must stop, for every dropHinders needle and thread.

“Seam, and gusset, and band,Band, and gusset, and seam,

Work, work, work,Like the Engine that works by Steam !A mere machine of iron and wood

That toils for Mammon’s sake –Without a brain to ponder and craze

Or a heart to feel – and break !”

– With fingers weary and worn,With eyelids heavy and red,

A Woman sat, in unwomanly rags,Plying her needle and thread –

Stitch ! stitch ! stitch !In poverty, hunger, and dirt,

And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, –Would that its tone could reach the Rich ! –

She sang this “Song of the Shirt !”

Telework: definitions and developments

21

2. Telework: definitions anddevelopments

The concept of telework – working from a distance with the use of information andcommunication technology – was launched in the 1970s and has received practical andacademic attention since then. Discussions on telework can be approached from manydifferent angles, depending on the priorities, perspectives and values of the differentstakeholders in the process. The definition of telework is, itself, controversial and thereis discussion on this in section 2.1. In section 2.2 a comparison of traditional home-working with telecommuting is made. Section 2.3 describes the development of tele-commuting and the change in orientation of telecommuting projects since it's introduc-tion in the 1970s. The chapter concludes in section 2.4 with an account of the currentextent of telework with particular reference to the Netherlands, including the charac-teristics of telework jobs and a review of some predictions of the future.

2.1. Definitions of teleworkDefinitions of telework are manifold, dependent on the perspective of the observer andthe nature of the work involved. The word refers to work at a distance, but has addi-tionally a technical connotation. In literature on telework, next to telework the termtelecommuting is used. Nilles – generally regarded as the progenitor of the concept in1976 – defines teleworking as any form of substitution of information technologies(such as telecommunications and computers) for work-related travel. He restricts theterm telecommuting to a process moving the work to the workers instead of moving theworkers to work. That can include periodic work out of the principal office, one ormore days per week either at home or in a telework centre. The emphasis here is onreduction or elimination of the daily commuting to and from the workplace (Nilles2000a).

According to Gordon, ‘telework’ tends to be used more in Europe and some othercountries, while ‘telecommuting’ is used more in the United States. Gordon himselfsolves the problem by using both terms, but he remarks:


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‘Some people prefer the word ‘telework’ because it's a more accuratedescription of the concept - the ‘tele’ prefix means ‘distance', so ‘telework’means ‘work at a distance'. The telework advocates also believe that‘telecommuting’ has too strong a connotation about the commuting aspect, andthat ‘telework’ is a broader and more inclusive term’ (Gordon 2000).

Many authors (Toffler 1981; Weijers 1985; Huws 1993; European Commission 1996)have explored the implications of telework and formulated new descriptions of theterm. Zegveld, one of the editors of a Dutch handbook on telework, compares the defi-nition issue with discussions on theological and exegetic questions. In 1995 he thinks ittoo early to define a strict description. He argues that these kind of discussions doeslittle good at this stage and that it is perhaps better to first see how the field develops(Zegveld 1995). This is also the opinion of the European Commission in 1996:

‘No attempt has been made to impose a single definition of ‘telework’ (…). Insuch a rapidly developing area, innovation and experimentation must be givenfull reign.’ (European Commission 1996: 11).

These views are reinforced by the fact that telework involves a variety of new ways ofworking, in which telecommunications is used as a tool, and which is performed, for atleast part of the time, outside a traditional office environment. These new ways includea new division of working time between an office near a person’s home, the homeitself, clients’ premises and the employer’s offices. It also includes geographicallydispersed groups, either within the same organisation, or bringing together people fromdifferent organisations for a particular project. Telecommuting increasingly involvesthe use of mobile telephony and data communications as an integral part of a person’swork, rather than as a specialist function.

Moran and Tansey mention two critical components in the definition of telework:the use of information technology and work where the conventional constraints of spa-tial location are less rigid:

‘A distinction can be made between a broad and narrow conception of telework.The narrow conception of telework involves the use of an electronic linkbetween the worker and the employer or contractor. This electronic link is usedfor communication and transmission of work. In the broad conception oftelework the teleworker is spatially separate from the employer/contractor andthe work carried out on electronic equipment is stored on discs or cassettes andis delivered in the traditional manner - such as by mail or courier, etceteras.There is no electronic communication link for data transmission. This type ofwork is mainly carried out in the home. It is more accurately, but infrequently,called Electronic Home Work – EHW’ (Moran and Tansey 1986).

In the same Dutch Handboek Telewerken in which Zegveld objects to strict definitions,Weijers advocates the usefulness of a clear definition, provided this definition doesjustice to the pluriformity of telework. She defines work as telework when, as a resultof information and communication technology, at least twenty percent of the working


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time is located outside the employer’s or taskmaster’s office (Weijers 1995). This def i-nition includes freelancers and self-employed home-workers.

The Dutch Union of Middle and Higher Personnel (MHP), researching teleworksince 1991, explicitly excludes the self-employed from their definition. They definetelecommuters as employees, who perform their work partly at home, using moderntelecommunication technology for communication with their employer and colleagues.Examples of this technology are: telephone, fax, modem, telephonic meetings, e-mail,voice-mail and networking facilities, to download and send electronic documents, datafiles or agenda items from or to the office environment (Vloemans 1993). ‘Don’t makea telecommuter a home-worker’, says Haket in a lecture at the Hogeschool van Utrecht(Haket 1996). In his opinion home-workers are people who perform mainly simpletasks on the basis of piecework wages. For those traditional home-workers the contactwith employer and colleagues is no part of their work (De Vries 1991). Telecommut-ers, on the other hand, are mainly middle and higher trained employees, who performcomplex tasks on the basis of a contract, while information processing plays an impor-tant role in their work.

In 1998 the European Commission sees telework as the potential for working whereand when it is best to do so, as determined by all parties involved, whether the em-ployer, employee, customer, the social partners, the family, the community, or widersociety:

‘Freed from constraints of place and time, work can thus fully respond to theradical changes affecting the economic, social and cultural life of Europe. (…)Thus, work in the Information Society, is in reality becoming ‘what you do’ not‘where you go’’ (European Commission 1998: 10).

In the 2000 Status Report – which is no longer called Telework, but E-work 2000,Status report on new ways to work in the information society – the Commission againavoids to define telework, because ‘a clear-cut definition forces us to draw boundariesaround a phenomenon (e.g. telework) which by their very nature tend to be arbitrary’(Johnston and Nolan 2000). Instead, an overview of different categories of telework isgiven: home-based telework, mobile telework, telework by self-employed in SOHOs(small office home office), supplementary telework, telework in telework-centres ortelecottages and combinations of different kinds of telework.

The Dutch Telewerkforum makes a distinction between tele-home-working, mobilework and work in a telecentre. A tele-home-worker is an employee, who performs (partof his or her) duties at home on the basis of a contract with his or her employer(Telewerkforum on http://www.telewerkforum.nl, visited 23 May 2000).

Felstead and Jewson (2000) try to avoid the term telework altogether. Telework re-lates to the use of some form of technology, and does not focus on the social relationsof production. They are of the opinion that the concept of telework confuses rather thanclarifies the understanding of home-located production: ‘It is not derived from ananalysis of social relations but rather from an implied or explicit technological deter-minism’ (Felstead and Jewson 2000: 19).

The research undertaken for this dissertation focuses on the effects of telework onthe domestic domain, particularly domestic labour. Technology is one aspect of the


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research question. Only working from the private home is considered. The term tele-commuting, though often used as synonym for telework, seems most appropriate in thisrespect. The research seeks to explore the changes in domestic labour, when peoplestart working from home. These changes can be observed best by people who have thealternative of working elsewhere, in particular in the office of their employer. Hence,employees are more interesting for this research than self-employed. Patterns of thedivision of domestic labour will probably not change when people take work homeonly now and then. Therefore, the target group for this research consists of people whowork at home on a regular basis, for a considerable time. For the purpose of this re-search, the following operational definition is used:

Telecommuters are employees who work in their own domestic environment forat least one day per week, on a structural basis, using modern information andcommunication technology and having at his or her disposal the facilities thathe or she also would have at the employer’s office.

The term telework is used to indicate a wider concept, including mobile working,working in telecentres, work by self-employed or contract work in other countries.

2.2. Telecommuting in relation to traditional home-working

2.2.1. Home-located productionTelecommuting can be seen as a specific type of home-located production. Felsteadand Jewson (2000) define home-located production as all production performed athome by different kind of people in a huge range of occupations and industries. Theyinclude lace makers in rural India, freelance architects in downtown Manhattan andlockstitchers in the back streets of Manchester. The term home-working is by themreserved for a more narrow definition, indicating work, performed at home, but organ-ised as part of a capitalist venue. Home-working is conventionally thought of as in-volving manual jobs carried out in manufacturing industry and routine serviceoccupations. This type of work is, with some exceptions, mainly unskilled work, andoften paid by piece: peeling shrimps or onions, sewing lampshades or knitting pullo-vers, assembling, packing and sorting different products (De Jong 1981; Overdiep enVisser 1983; De Beer et al. 1984; Fruytier en Valkenburg 1984; De Vries 1998). How-ever, there are many other occupations involved. Felstead and Jewson see a danger inreproducing long-standing stereotypes based on unexamined assumptions about previ-ous forms of work. Research has shown that far from being an old-fashioned, decliningform of employment, home-work is part of a dynamic and growing sector. In thesenewer patterns of production, flexibility is a key factor and the sub-contracting chainsof small firms and home-workers provide a flexible workforce (De Vries 1998; Fel-stead and Jewson 2000).


25

2.2.2. Traditional home-workingThe reputation of the unskilled, traditional home-work is not a good one. The Britishpoet Thomas Hood (1799-1845) described this already in his Song of the Shirt, writtenin 1843, during the stark days of early industrialisation. Working conditions were bad,and simple technology used. ‘With fingers, weary and worn, with eyelids heavy andred...’ the song relates to long working hours, low payment, and enslavement: ‘ O, Men,(...) it is not linen you're wearing out, but human creature's lives!’ And of repetitive,monotonous, machinelike work, done in social isolation: ‘...my shadow I thank forsometimes falling there!'.

A little more than half a century later, Howard and Wilson investigated – amongother things – the situation of home-workers in West Ham, London, and found situa-tions resembling those in the Song of the Shirt:

‘The visitors noted that in several cases they had found clothing being made bydirty people in dirty houses; and some of the home workers were living inhouses which had been allowed to fall into despair’ (Howard and Wilson 1907:258).

They characterised home-work as irregular, both in time and in other conditions. Theymentioned the extremely low wages and often long working hours – if work was ob-tainable at all. Unwholesome conditions were common, which would be avoided in afactory or workshop, where the law provided for better standards of cleanliness andsafety:

‘Economy in light, which is likely to be practised by home workers who doneedlework, is notoriously bad for the eye, and in all these things factoryconditions are more favourable to health, and to the efficiency of the work’(Howard and Wilson 1907: 258).

Most home-workers in the West Ham research had to provide or pay for their machinesand other utensils. ‘Must have clear, good fires for pressing’, was one of the demandsfor getting tailoring work. Heating and light were always at the expense of the home-worker. The researchers found only a few instances where work was sufficient andcontinuous:

‘This is the case where skill is required and possessed by the home worker, as inthe costume trade; or where organising power and other fortunatecircumstances enable a woman to get into a sort of sub-contractor's position,working all the year round herself, and employing others during the busyseason’ (Howard and Wilson 1907: 261).

Around the same period, 1902, Roland Holst described the labour situation in theNetherlands, and gave attention to home-work as well. The leading industry in thenineteenth century could only develop and maintain itself by the combination of in-dustrial production and home-working. Thus the textile industry flourished in areaswhere centuries long weaving existed as home employment, and the cigar industry


26

used adults, often helped by young children, everywhere in the country, allowing themto earn some money, which was ‘too much to die and too little to live’ (Roland Holst1902/1973: 167-170). Here men and women, young and old, were exploited by the up-coming industrial organisations.

Circumstances might have changed since then, but in the 1980s – and even later –home-workers still think they perform dreary, miserable work, low in status, irregularand uncertain, earning low wages. Traditional home-workers are presented as amongthe most downtrodden and exploited members of the labour force, with minimal auton-omy, suffering from low wages, an absence of benefits, intense work pressures, occu-pational dangers and poor-quality working conditions. They are seen as exploited bysuppliers of work and further oppressed by the burdens of domestic work and familycare (Felstead and Jewson 2000). Houses of home-workers are probably not as dirty asin the eighteenth century, but in the 1980s, home-workers still complain about the messin their houses, caused by the often bulky amounts of materials that go with the work(De Beer et al. 1984). Standards and regulations concerning hygiene were the reasonfor the abolition of home-peeling of shrimps in the Netherlands (Francken en Beer1993). Most home-workers in the twentieth century also do not receive any restitutionor allowances for the room they use at home, the extra heating or the furniture pur-chased (De Beer et al. 1984; Schop 1998).

2.2.3. Similarities and differencesAs relevant now as at the time of the West Ham research, De Beer et al. (1984) makethe point, basic to the labour market, that work that requires more skill tends to be bet-ter valued. This applies in particular to telework jobs. Information and communicationtechnology require the skill to use these technologies and, vice versa, make moreskilled jobs suitable to execute from home. Even highly trained professionals can – andactually do – perform their work from home, bridging time and distance through tele-communication connections. Felstead and Jewson (2000) observe that teleworkers are– in contrast to the ‘traditional’ home-workers – often portrayed as a peculiarly advan-taged group who have freely chosen a lifestyle that maximises flexibility and inde-pendence, autonomously constructing their own work schedules, integratingdomesticity and employment, and shaking off workplace controls. In spite of that,some of the characteristics of traditional home-work – such as exploitation, isolation,piece rates and gender bias – can be true for telework as well, as will be clarified be-low.

Johnston and Nolan (2000) mention employee exploitation as one of the examplesof bad telework practice, although they also observe a substantial decrease over thepast years. Some organisations still impose teleworking on their workers ('semi-voluntary’ telework). Others use the admission to telework to extort overtime fromemployees or disregard the employee's right to off-duty time. Teleworkers can be usedas work peak buffers and sometimes telework is used as a first step towards enforcedself-employment (Johnston and Nolan 2000). But other authors stress the opposite ofexploitation. They regard the diffusion of new technology into the home as one of thepotentially liberating developments of post-industrial society (Phizacklea and Wolko-witz 1995).


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Another topic touched upon in the song, and in home-work literature, is the isola-tion of the home-workers (De Beer et al. 1984; Fruytier en Valkenburg 1984; Fother-gill 1994; Phizacklea and Wolkowitz 1995; De Vries 1998). ‘You don't see anybody,’says a home-worker to De Beer et al. in 1984. Isolation is commonly cited as a maindisadvantage of home-located production of all kinds (Felstead and Jewson 2000).According to the European Commission, this disadvantage can be a deterrent toadopting telework. However, good practice in teleworking supplies opportunities forsocial contact in the form of a minimum number of days spent in the office, strongidentification with the organisation, a supportive company culture, networks etceteras(European Commission 1998). Weekly or monthly social gatherings and the exploita-tion of a grand café on a central location with facilities for meetings and telework arereported in the 2000s (De Wit 2000). These gatherings are of importance for both em-ployees and employers. A lack of informal contact does not only have a negative effecton the wellbeing of the employees, it can also affect the quality of their work. Manygood ideas and the outset of fruitful co-operation sprout around the coffee machine.The negative attitude of unions towards telework (and home-work in general) has al-ways centred around the isolation of the workers, which supposedly diminishes theirorganisational power. Isolated home-workers are difficult to reach for unions. Para-doxically, the Los Angeles telework project in 1974 was abandoned out of fear forunion take-over. The insurance company that ran the project was by that time not at allunionised. The management was afraid that teleworkers could be reached more easilyby the unions when not in the office (Nilles 2000b). Felstead and Jewson point outanother paradox. Home-located producers have a dilemma:

‘On the one hand, they seek to combat the effects of isolation. On the other, theyseek to maintain the integrity of the home against outside encroachments’(Felstead and Jewson 2000: 134).

Telecommunication connections can be of help to overcome this dilemma. They makeit possible to keep in contact with superiors and colleagues, and they can regulate out-side communications as well in order to prevent encroachments. E-mail, faxes, an-swering machines and separated telephone lines are devices in this respect.

Typical for traditional home-work are piecework wages. This has for a long timebeen a thorn in the flesh of the labour unions, especially in Europe. Their activities toabolish this system have been successful. From the early 1970s through the late 1990swages were, in three quarter of the Dutch collective agreements, dependent on thecomplexity of the job and the experience of the worker. But lately this situation ischanging. Since 1997 Dutch newspapers repeatedly give an account of discussions on,and the growth in, flexible rewarding. In July 1998, Dutch governing parties suggestthe introduction of merit pay in the field of education (Volkskrant 3 July 1998). Sincespring 2000, the increase of wages of the 38,000 employees of the Philips company is –despite protests of the unions – dependent on their performance. Philips was precededby companies in the IT-branch and for instance Carglass, a company that replaces carwindows. Employers spoke of a major breakthrough, employees agreed reluctantly(Volkskrant 25 April, 5 June and 7 September 2000).


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Thierry, expert in human resource management, cited in de Volkskrant (21 August1997), argues that labour unions will have little choice but to accept this trend. Bo-nuses, options and other extras are already very common for higher personnel and inthe field of information technology. Union members, in particular the younger ones,wish to extend comparable rewarding systems to all workers. The Federatie Neder-landse Vakbeweging (FNV) – Netherlands’ biggest labour union – concurs with thisopinion and, in January 2000, held a conference on the theme of flexible wages. At thistime, already 81 percent of employees with a collective labour agreement had experi-ence with some kind of ‘motivating rewarding policy’ ( Volkskrant 31 January 2000).

Merit pay can be seen as an expression of appreciation of the performed labour andcan lead to an increase of productivity. But the negative aspects – especially when ittakes the form of piece rates – are arbitrariness, driving up levels of output, jealousyand decreased mutual co-operation. In the Netherlands – more than in the Anglo-Saxoncountries – dedication is valued as an important aspect of performance, next to realisedoutput. That complicates a system that rewards productivity (Volkskrant 3 November2000). But for home-workers, output control seems an obvious way of control, sincecontrolling on the basis of presence is not feasible. Payment based on output is thenonly one step away.

The Song of the Shirt is about women. In West Ham, the home-workers were alsowomen. Accounts of traditional home-work agree that most home-workers are – orwere – women (De Jong 1981; Overdiep en Visser 1983; De Beer et al. 1984; Fruytieren Valkenburg 1984; Adam et al. 1994; Fothergill 1995; De Vries 1998). However, asFelstead and Jewson note, home-working is sometimes discussed as if it were solelythe preserve of women. Also among traditional home-workers, a sizeable minority aremale (Felstead and Jewson 2000). Modern home-workers are both men and women,reflecting the general distribution on the labour market. In unskilled jobs women seemto be over-represented, in high skilled jobs more men are working. At least, that is theopinion of Zegveld et al. (1995) and Tailleu and Van der Wielen (1995). Mallon takesa different view in an article in The Scotsman of 31 October 2000, citing a UK gov-ernment research: ‘Home working is a privilege extended almost exclusively to manag-ers and professionals, and the majority are male.’ According to the cited survey,women are being left behind compared to men when it comes to having permissionfrom their bosses to work from home (Mallon 2000). This is also the conclusion of theEuropean Status Report 2000:

‘Telework is a male domain. Surprisingly for many and in contrast to the'normal working life', 75% of all teleworkers are male and only 25% female.This stands in sharp contrast to the widespread opinion that telework is apredominantly female domain. The image of the female caseworker who viatelework manages to combine work and family more satisfactorily, as ispublicised in the media, thus only represents a minority of teleworkers inEurope’ (Johnston and Nolan 2000: 30).

Whatever the division between men and women may be, it is clear that the gender issuecannot be ignored:


29

‘Although all employment relations may be said to entail issues concerning maleand female identities, home-located production is gendered in ways that aredistinctive’ (Felstead and Jewson 2000: 20).

Some authors compare modern home-working with the pre-industrial family produc-tion unit. Terreehorst (1994) sees similarities of the modern home-working family witha farming household. That is why she called her book Het Boerderijmodel, the farmmodel. This comparison falls short in a few aspects. De Rooij (1992) points out that ina self-employed agrarian business, ownership and labour, work and living are not sepa-rated. Means of production, management and control are mainly in the hands of theproducers themselves, as becomes clear in the following citation of Gasson and Er-rington:

‘Most of the land and capital is provided by the family, although additional landmay be rented for expansion of the operation and capital may be borrowed forsupplies, machinery and improvements. Most of the labour is provided bymembers of the family living on the farm, but additional labour may be hired,most often on a seasonal basis’ (Galeski and Wilkening, cited by Gasson andErrington 1993: 11).

Because there is one unity of working and living, members of the agrarian family per-form different tasks at the farm. Family relationships characterise the labour relations.The labour of the farmer and the farmer's wife is a ‘non-wage’ relationship. The sale ofgoods produces an income. This income is not divided into wage and profit, but be-tween family and business, and among the participants involved. A clear separationbetween household production and production for the market, can often not be made,even though not all farmer's wives do farm work in addition to domestic work. Byemphasising that the income is produced by the total labour on the farm, it becomesclear that not only business labour, but also domestic labour is involved (De Rooij1992). As Gasson and Errington put it:

‘Any boundary between productive and reproductive work in the farm householdis artificial. Women's work in ‘reproducing’ labour force – that is to say doingall that is necessary to service the productive workers and keep them in a fitstate to work by feeding, housing and clothing them, caring for them in sicknessand old age and raising replacements – is just as much an economiccontribution to the farm family business as rearing calves or drilling wheat’(Gasson and Errington 1993: 22).

Living on the premises of the farm – which most farm families do – the majority offarmers’ wives are involved in the running of the farm business in some capacity.Many undertake the greater part of paperwork, virtually all are expected to answer thetelephone, take messages and run errands for the farm. The woman's social and psy-chological support for her partner is crucial in enterprise decision-making and man-agement. Often, the farm woman provides the active link with members of the wider


30

kin network, the local community and the general public (De Rooij 1992; Gasson andErrington 1993).

In most telecommuter's families, not the family but an individual is hired for awage. The employer, and not the employee, is the owner of the means of production.Labour relationships are clearly defined. The income is only produced by the work thatis done within the employer-employee relation. Handing on the job to a member of thefamily in the next generation is out of the question. And because the telecommuterhim- or herself has an employer outside the home, he or she does not need a partner toestablish or maintain the contact with the outside world.

Of course there are some similarities with the farm family business. The work isperformed in the domestic environment, and it may involve other members of the fam-ily. Sometimes partners and other members of the family are expected to answer busi-ness telephone calls and serve coffee to clients or colleagues (Fitzgerald and Winter2001). Another similarity is that the outside world invades the domestic sphere, whichmakes this sphere less private than in households where the employee works outsidethe home. Thus the telecommuter is, like the farm family, faced with balancing theboundaries between private and public spheres.

2.3. Development of teleworkThough telework is relatively new, a shift in emphasis and orientation can already beobserved. In the middle of the 1970s Nilles introduced the concept of telework as ananswer to energy consumption and commuting demands (Nilles 1976, cited in Jacksonand Van der Wielen 1998). The first test was held in 1973-1974 in the Los Angelesarea by a major national insurance company (Nilles 2000b). It has since developed inmany different ways.

In the 1980s some organisations emphasised flexible working arrangements to ad-dress skill shortages; to integrate economic peripheries with core regions or urban cen-tres; and to permit balancing of job and family demands (Jackson and Van der Wielen1998). IDC (2000) calls this the first stage of teleworking, the Dark Days ofDownsizing. In this stage corporate restructuring prompted many to start their ownhome-based businesses as an alternative to traditional employment. While many ofthese home-workers served as contractors to their previous employers, those still on thecorporate payroll had even more work to do. A natural response by corporate survivorswas to use an ‘after hours’ home office to catch up on paperwork and keep pace withthe increased work load.

In the 1990s, telework projects paid more attention to issues of workplace design,facility management and the need to manage work time and work space to encourageproductivity and effectiveness (Jackson and Van der Wielen 1998). Compared to themid-1980s, cost-related reasons became much more important as a reason for intro-ducing telework. Organisations emphasised the need to reduce costs and restructureorganisations in order to become more competitive. At the same time, there is increas-ing recognition of the importance of employee motivations, needs, attitudes and re-sponses than in the 1980s. And though the emphasis of ‘reasons for teleworking’ isfirmly on costs, the experience of teleworking brings out very strongly improvementsin quality of work (Korte 1996). IDC qualifies this period as the second stage: Business


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Building with PCs. The decrease of PC prices caused a growth in home offices and avariety of home businesses were able to use technology as a leverage. As IDC vicepresident Raymond Boggs notes, ‘Having a PC and advanced telephone services al-lowed the home business builders of the ‘90s to look like big companies to their cus-tomers and prospects’ (IDC 2000).

Stage three – the 2000s – is characterised by the phrase Work Everywhere. Onlineaccess to advanced facilities is expected to change the lives of both corporate home-workers (daytime telecommuters and after hours workers) and those running a businessfrom home on a full- or part-time basis. Remote capabilities and networking will beincreasingly important as home office workers seek the same levels of mobile supportenjoyed by their corporate cousins. The focus shifts from technology and control tobinding (IDC 2000).

The transition from stage two to stage three is illustrated by De Wit (2000), report-ing a year of attention from press and colleague companies, after having received theDutch telework-prize 1999. The first half year most questions related to technique andcontrol. The second half year questioners were more interested in coherence and con-nection, not in a technical sense, but in a social sense. ‘How do you keep personnelinvolved with your company?’ and: ‘How do colleagues keep in touch with eachother?’ In these terms, concern has moved from the question of productivity to those ofmaintenance of worker morale and corporate identity.

Since 1996, the European Commission has issued an annual Status Report on tele-work. The name change in 2000 (from Telework to E-work) is significant. It marks thebeginning of a new phase. The emphasis is now on substantial structural changes.Keywords are productivity, non-inflationary growth, the transition to a stable but olderpopulation, and greater environmental and social sustainability in a global informationsociety (Johnston and Nolan 2000). The fate of the Dutch magazine Telewerken isillustrative as well. In 1999 the subtitle of the magazine became ‘magazine for modernforms of organisation'. In 2001, the magazine became part of a specialist journal foroffice technology. First, Telewerken was still on the title page. Two issues later, it wasonly to be found within the magazine. Some consultancy firms report that special tele-work-projects are decreasing, since telework is an aspect of almost all organisationalassignments (Geerdink et al. 2000). Telework is not so much a separate issue anymore,but has become a general aspect of social change. These changes will be the subject ofChapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change).

2.4. Telecommuting in practice: findings and statisticsWho are the telecommuters, what kind of jobs do they have, why are they working athome, and how many of them are there? How many of them will there be in the nextdecades? In this section, an attempt is made to address these questions, though theauthor realises that the information is out-of-date, the minute it is written down.

2.4.1. Telecommuters’ jobsAll activities generating or processing data are eligible for being performed at a dis-tance, especially when the information can be transported through data communication


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connections using computers. In particular, jobs in the administrative and financialfield, in policy making, management, marketing, sales, consultancy, automation, re-search, education, training and journalism are suitable for telework. Telecommutingjobs may involve quasi-autonomous work by highly trained specialists but also super-vised work in secretarial support, accounting and data entry activities. The businesssectors most involved, are those with a high information content in high added-valueup-stream activities such as research, software development, product design; and busi-ness management activities (European Commission 1996; Telewerkforum 2000).

Telecommuting is possible in most sectors of society, except in those functionswhere face-to-face contact or hands-on labour is needed, such as retail or material pro-duction. Most telecommuters do not currently work at home full-time. Vloemans(1993) found that telecommuters regard an average of one-and-a-half days per week asbeing ideal, others (Vernooij en Casimir 1996; Gordon 2000) speak of one to threedays per week.

Felstead and Jewson (2000) found that the odds of working at home rise with age.This is also the opinion of Forsebäck (1995). We will come back to that in Chapter 5(Exploring the field). The presence of children, particularly pre-schoolers, has the ex-pected effect of raising the probability of women working at home, but makes littledifference as far as men are concerned. However, the findings of Felstead and Jewsondo not support the popular view that poorly educated women are more likely to work athome. Their results suggest that working at home – either fully or partly – is morelikely among better qualified women, holding all other things constant. These studiesalso question the suggestion that ethnic minorities are more likely to participate in thistype of work. Indeed, the findings suggest the complete opposite (Felstead & Jewson2000).

2.4.2. Goals and motivesWithout being exhaustive, the goals and motives of different stakeholders are summa-rised in the following paragraphs (see also: European Commission 1998; De Vries andWeijers 1998). Some of these have already been discussed in the preceding sections.Others will be elaborated in following chapters. Therefore, only some of the hithertounder-exposed aspects will be explicated here.

From a business point of view, teleworking is promoted to raise productivity, to im-prove business efficiency, to meet changes in business culture, to enable easier re-cruitment and retention of valued personnel, to meet employees demands and to saveon buildings, heating and travel expenses. When many employees work at home, theirdesks in the office are often unoccupied. This leads to the development of new officeconcepts, with desks used by different persons. Personal belongings can be kept inmobile filing cabinets. Interpolis, one of the Netherlands’ biggest insurance companies,combines telecommuting and office innovation and expects that office innovation willencourage telecommuting. Following this assumption, their new office building be-came much smaller than originally planned. In a comparable pilot project of ABNAmro Effecten Services savings on accommodations costs of 20 percent were realised(Telewerken nr.7, 1997). Thus telecommuting leads to fewer or smaller office buildingsand saves money on office heating and cooling as well. Of course in addition a work-


33

place at home has to be created, houses have to be heated during the day, and morespace is needed within those houses, but these costs are lower than the institutionalcosts of office workplaces and heating. The Thermie Project Haarlemmermeer (1995)expects that the savings on offices and office heating yield more profit than savings oncars (see also European Commission 1998).

Environmental considerations are the main reasons for governments to promotetelecommuting, resulting in diminished traffic congestion, air pollution and energyconsumption, and a reduction of space, needed for roads. Model calculations of theDutch research institute TNO show that telecommuting seems to be a successful in-strument to fight traffic jams in the urban agglomeration of Western Netherlands,rather than diminish the total car use (Martens en Korver 2000). It is clear that tele-commuting can reduce the time and costs of commuting, especially because commutersover long distances seem to be more inclined to work at home than people who worknearby. The few empirical researches in this respect reckon with an increase of com-muting distance of 6 to 15 percent in the long run (Martens en Korver 2000). A secondresult of these calculations is the decreasing growth of second car property. Telecom-muting eases the combination of one car per family. Saving commuting time and costsis not only a straightforward economical advantage, it also reduces stress, traffic andtraffic congestion, which has a positive influence on health and environment. A studyof Arthur D. Little Inc., cited in Thermie Project Haarlemmermeer (1995), predicted inthe 1990s a 10 million decrease in passengers at Logan International Airport nearBoston in 2010, due to the growth of telecommunication connections. These connec-tions would diminish the need for physical transportation.

However, the effect of telecommuting on mobility should not be overestimated.Optimists are of the opinion that telecommuting can reduce commuter traffic by a half,pessimists estimate the reduction not more than 10 or 15 percent (Spittje 1995). Thepossibility of telecommuting can influence the decision to buy or keep a desired housein a nice surrounding. This could lead to longer journeys to work on days that the of-fice is visited, and might also involve longer journeys for other purposes (such asshopping, taking children to school, social travel, etceteras). Oppositely, the possibilityof telecommuting affects the choice of office location. Employees can live further fromtheir work (Martens en Korver 2000). Next to that there may be a shift towards travelby more energy-consuming private cars and away from more environmentally-friendlymass transit systems (European Commission 1998; Spittje 1999). And opposed to theexpectations of Logan airport, scenario's for Schiphol Airport show an increase of pas-sengers. One of the reasons is the improvement of wireless connections that enablemobile working. When people can spend their waiting time in a useful way, their incli-nation to travel might increase (Thermie Project Haarlemmermeer 1995).

Telework can play a role in the development of remote regions (European Commis-sion 1998). In this respect the outsourcing of data typing and programming work tounderdeveloped countries like Mexico, Jamaica, Korea or less developed regionswithin a country can be mentioned. This development might be beneficial for the em-ployees in those countries and regions, but is on the other hand dubious because work-ing conditions verge on the old customs of the traditional home-work, with lowpiecework wages and far-reaching exploitation.


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Individuals take up telecommuting for a variety of reasons. Personal flexibility andresponsibility, balancing work and home, but also taking advantage of employmentopportunities, are some of the examples, that will be further explored in followingchapters. For people who are tied to their home – due to a handicap or sickness ofthemselves or of a child or dependant adult – it might be the only possibility for paidwork. Telework is not restricted to work in the private home. It can also be performedin telework centres. This is especially fruitful when these centres are equipped withfacilities for disabled persons.

2.4.3. NumbersWith the reduction of traditional home-working, new forms of home-working emerge.According to Felstead and Jewson (2000) world-wide the numbers of homeworkersand home-located production appear to have sharply increased in recent decades –although the rate of increase has not always matched the heroic expectations of futur-ologists, management gurus and some academics (Felstead and Jewson 2000). Differ-ent research institutions find different results, which can be ascribed to differentdefinitions and different methods of data collecting. ‘Counting teleworkers is likemeasuring a rubber band’ (Qvortrup 1998: 21). Next to that, the numbers are changingrapidly.

Table 2-1: Estimations of numbers of telecommuters

Ovum1994

TNO1994

IDC 1994 IDC 1995 IDC 1996 Heliview1999

Telewerk-forum2000

Netherlands 57,000 80,000 95,000 115,000 137,500 200,000 400,000Benelux 130,000 146,000 163,000Europe (EU) 1,200,000 606,000 691,000 786,000

Derived from: Zegveld et al. (1995); Vernooij en Casimir (1996); De Vries en Weijers (1998); He-liview (2000); Telewerkforum (2000).

The figures in Table 2-1 refer to formal telecommuters, i.e. people who work at homeon a structural basis. The number of informal telecommuters is manifold. IDC esti-mates in 1996 that over one million Dutch workers work at home occasionally. Addi-tionally, there are 366,000 mobile workers, working en route, at client’s offices orwhere ever (Vernooij en Casimir 1996).

2.4.4. Future growthEstimates of future growth of telework are even more difficult. Gordon has been in-volved in the telework field since 1982, and he is asked to make those estimates at leasttwo times a month:

‘So, that is 24 times a year for 17 years, or a total of at least 408 estimates Ihave made about the future number of teleworkers. If I have been lucky, I think


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that perhaps 10 of those estimates were correct - but I don't know which onesthey were’ (Gordon 1999).

A 10-15 percent annual growth in the number of telecommuters and an increasing di-versity in the types of employers and job types involved sounds reasonable, but thedevelopment is to a high degree dependent on other changes in society. In 1996, IDCprognoses that there will be 252,000 to 650,000 telecommuters in the year 2000. Thefirst figure stands for a scenario with little cultural and structural change. The last fig-ure belongs to a scenario in which major disasters – total traffic congestion, environ-mental calamities – force governments and companies to intervene (Vernooij enCasimir 1996). Nilles (2000a) expects a constant growth of telecommuters in the US.In Figure 2-1, the dashed line represents the findings of annual household surveysmade by Miller of Cyber Dialogue and Pratt (with some extrapolation by Nilles of thetrend past the last survey in June 1999).

Figure 2-1: Telecommuters in the USA

However, the more teleworking becomes an integrated aspect of all work, the moredifficult it is to define and detect teleworkers, and the harder it is to discover exactnumbers. Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change) will show thatthe structural and cultural changes involved are as interesting – and probably moreinteresting – as figures.

Copyright © 1998-2000 by JALA International, Inc. All international rights reserved; last modified:Wednesday December 08, 1999.

Telecommuting in the context of societal change

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3. Telecommuting in the context ofsocietal change

Telework is not an isolated phenomenon, but is part of broader change patterns in post-industrial western societies. The societal changes, with an emphasis on changes inlabour market and production structure, are described in section 3.1, to better demon-strate the context of telework development. The interrelation of those changes andtelework are addressed in the subsequent section 3.2.

3.1. Societal change

3.1.1. From industrial to information societyWestern industrial societies are generally referred to in terms of the 'modern world' or'modernity', though since the 1960s some authors speak of a post-modern or post-industrial society (Van der Loo en Van Reijen 1993; Terreehorst 1994; Braidotti 1994;Te Kloeze et al. 1996; Giddens 1997; McGrath and Houlihan 1998). Van der Loo andVan Reijen indicate modernity as a development, starting slowly in the late MiddleAges, and continuing in accelerated speed in the last two centuries. It is a complex ofrelated changes, comprising industrialisation, urbanisation, democratisation, rationality,individualisation. Giddens (1997) equates the modern world with industrial society, ofwhich the main characteristic is the concentration of production in factories. Post-modernity stands for a phase of development beyond the industrial era, named infor-mation society, service society, knowledge society, post-industrial society, electronicage, space age; scientific-technological era, global village or the Third Wave (Toffler1983; Giddens 1997). Giddens (1991) also specifies modernity as a post-traditionalorder, characterised by profound processes of the reorganisation of time and space.

The development of the industrial society is the result of a complex set of techno-logical changes, including the invention of new machines, the harnessing of powerresources to production, and the use of science to improve production methods. Thepace of technological innovation in industrial societies is extremely rapid comparedwith traditional social systems. In contrast to all societies that have gone before – andfrom many current Third World societies – the large majority of the working popula-


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tion is not employed in the primary sector of economic activity. Rather many peoplework in factories and construction – the secondary sector of economic activity – andincreasingly even these are eclipsed by those working in the service sector with jobs inshops and offices predominating. Next to industrialisation, capitalist organisation is adimension of modern society. That means a system of commodity production involvingboth competitive markets and the commodification of labour power. Individuals – andno longer families, although this still was the case in the beginning of the industrialisa-tion – are contracted by employers, the owners of the means of production. As a resultof that, people move to towns and cities, where most jobs are to be found and job op-portunities are created. The separation of work and home, of production and consump-tion becomes a fact for the majority of the workforce in the industrialised countries(Toffler 1983; Giddens 1991; Giddens 1997; Van der Loo en Van Reijen 1993).

The diversity of names for the post-industrial society is an indication for its varietyof forms, but information or knowledge appears to be a significant theme:

‘Our way of life, based on the manufacture of material goods, centred on thepower machine and the factory, is being displaced by one in which informationis the basis of the productive system’ (Giddens 1997: 526).

Although the concept of the information society has existed for more than 25 years –Bell (cited by Giddens 1997) introduced it in 1973 – the European Commission writesin 2000 that we are at the beginning of a new phase of European co-operation in theshift to a digital, knowledge-based economy. This new phase is marked by the broaderscope of 'e-work' development for a substantial proportion of the European workforce(Johnston and Nolan 2000). However, even while information supply is growing dra-matically (especially in electronic media) the actual consumption of information hashardly changed over the past years: a smaller and smaller fraction of what is producedis actually consumed. Table 3-1 shows how many hours US households actually spendon media.

A variety of phenomena and processes can be classified under the concept of mod-ernity. Following Van der Loo and Van Reijen (1993) the following sections will de-scribe recent changes from four different, interrelated, angles: structure, culture,individual and nature. Seen from a structural angle, people fulfil societal roles and areinteracting with others. The cultural reality is a reality of opinions, ideas, symbols,values, norms and denotations that direct behaviour and give meaning to life. Thisbehaviour and human interactions may be determined by restraints and possibilities ofsurrounding structures and cultural systems, the personality of the individual has effecton his or her behaviour as well. The fourth and last angle is nature, or, more precisely,the extent to which individuals can escape from their biological and natural limitations.Here technology is the main issue.


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Table 3-1: Yearly media use of US households

Item 1992Hours

2000Hours

2000 Mbytes

% Change

TV 1,510 1,571 3,142,000 4Radio 1,150 1,056 57,800 -8Recorded Music 233 269 13,450 15Newspaper 172 154 11 -10Books 100 96 7 -4Magazines 85 80 6 -6Home video 42 55 110,000 30Video games 19 43 21,500 126Internet 2 43 9 2,050Total: 3,324 3,380 3,344,783 1.7Summary of yearly media use by US households in hours per year, with estimated megabyte equiva-lent. (Hours from Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1999). © 2000 Regents of the University ofCalifornia (Lyman and Varian 2000).

3.1.2. Structural changesIndustrialisation changed the patterns of production and consumption, concentratingproduction in factories and facilitating a specialised division of labour. In the course ofthe industrial development, the term 'work' obtained significance as paid labour in theemploy of the owners of the means of production and on their premises. At home, la-bour devoted to the care of individuals – so that they are as healthy and well-fed ascircumstances will allow – was not generally accorded the same status. Domestic la-bour was in industrialised settings no longer an organic part of the productive labour onthe farm or in the workshop, and took on a separate and secondary existence. In thesecircumstances it became mainly, if not exclusively the province of women (Daru 1993;De Rooij 1992; Mandel 1970). Since the family was no longer a working community,and no longer producing market value, it had value chiefly as a unit of consumption.Only the socialisation of children as future employees was generally interpreted asproductive (Engels 1973; Terreehorst 1994). Increasingly, members of a householdwere approached as consumers who engage in separate labour market activity to ac-quire an income to purchase goods and services to fulfil their needs (Van Dongen1993).

Since the 1960s the depiction of household and work as inherently separate hascome under some criticism. Becker (1965) – often regarded as the founder of 'The NewHome Economics' – has argued that much 'free time' is in fact spent productively andmust be regarded as 'productive consumption'. Time is an economic factor, because ithas opportunity costs. One is free to spend the hours of free time on paid labour thusacquiring more income. The choice between leisure time and time spent on paid labouris fundamental for time budgeting and income acquisition. As such, it is important tothe wellbeing of the individual (Broekman 1983/1984).

From the 1970s, academic literature increasingly pays attention to gender-relatedaspects of work. Some notable authors in this respect are Betty Friedan (1972), AnnOakley (1975) and Lilian Rubin (1976). Earlier studies of Simone de Beauvoir (1965,originally published in 1949) and Virginia Woolf (1979, originally published in 1929)


40

became popular. The similarity of these publications is their observation that differ-ences in the experiences of men and women are not coincidental. Historic and socio-economic structures, power relationships between men and women, role perception,ideology and socialisation, contribute – next to biological preconditions – to these dif-ferences.1 Initially, the gender discussion focussed on the disadvantaged, deprivedsituation of women, relating to their position on the labour market. Emancipation pol-icy was directed to diminishing differences and emphasised equality. The practicalconsequence of this vision was that women were supposed to equalise with men, ratherthan men equalising with women. In later years there is more attention for the value ofdifferences. Care in the domestic domain has a positive value, and the poor role of menin this respect can be problematised as well (Scott 1989; Tronto 1993; Sevenhuijsen1995/96; Haraway 1994; V. Frissen 1999). The value of domestic labour will be elabo-rated in Chapter 4 (Theoretical framework).

Due to the increased importance of information and communication technology, inthe 1990s and later, work and space could be disconnected. 'Work' is no longer identi-fied in terms of location – as a place to go – but as a method in which activities areconducted, as something that you do (European Commission 1998; Mirchandani 1998).Since the physical distance between 'work' and 'non-work' can be eliminated, the dis-tinction between work and non-work has to be recreated.

Industrialisation is not limited to a single society and, to maintain the diversity ofgoods on sale, economic interdependence increasingly means that production and dis-tribution activities are global rather than national. In this globalisation one of the para-doxes of modern society can be observed (Giddens 1997). Small, specialisedproduction units are counterbalanced with an increased span of co-operation over greatdistances. Mass production, mass communication and mass consumption are charac-teristics of modern industrial societies, but the subdivision of firms into small businessunits – returning to core activities –, or outsourcing of tasks to self-employed or smalland medium-sized businesses is also typical. The latter is to be found especially ininnovative sectors, for instance multimedia and internet firms. This is not a new phe-nomenon. Roland Holst (1902) describes already the start of the innovative, small 'arti-ficial butter' firms in the 1870s and the concentration of these into a few capitalist firmsaround 1900 (Casimir 1982b).

Information and communication technology (ICT) plays an important, though para-doxical role in recent structural changes. Since the 1970s, and exponentially in the1990s, computers are introduced in almost every factory and office. The developmentsin telecommunication and computer technology meant that vast quantities of data couldbe recorded, processed and stored in fractions of a second and transmitted world-wide.This lead to a diminishing of jobs and even of functions (like compositors in thegraphical industry) in some sectors. On the other hand, the introduction of these tech-nologies meant a sustained growth of information-related occupations as a sub-set of'white-collar' work. Nilles (2000b) estimates that 60 percent of the workforce is in-volved in these kind of occupations. Next to that, ICT can be defined as a new range ofproducts and services. Analysing the changes in economic activity, Freeman (1994)shows the multi-factoral nature of the transformation (Table 3-2). 1 Daru (1993) gives an elaborate overview of the different theories and models that try to

explain the differences between men and women.


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Table 3-2: Change of techno-economic paradigm

Old ('Fordist'2) New (ICT)Energy intensive Information intensiveDesign and engineering in 'drawing' offices Computer-aided designSequential design and production Concurrent engineeringStandardised CustomisedRather stable product mix Rapid changes in product mixDedicated plant and equipment Flexible production systemsAutomation SystemationSingle firm NetworksHierarchical structures Flat horizontal structuresDepartmental IntegratedProduct with service Service with productCentralisation Distributed intelligenceSpecialised skills Multi-skillingGovernment control and sometimes ownership Government information, co-ordination and

regulation'Planning' 'Vision'

Source: Freeman 1994: 15.

Keywords in Freeman's scheme are networks, distributed intelligence and integration.ICT facilitates those developments, directed to both centralisation and decentralisation.Communication technology makes centralised control of remote parts of companies allover the world possible. On the other But because of the minor investment costs ofcomputer systems and the distribution possibilities of networks, decentralised dataentry and data processing is also practicable, including local decision making. Thesedevelopments have a far-reaching effect on organisational aspects of society, leading toless hierarchic organisations and even enabling marginalised groups to participate morefully (V. Frissen 1999), though other authors exactly warn for a cleavage in societybetween the computer lettered and illiterates (Nowotny 1982). Competitive pressure,market volatility and uncertainty, and the above mentioned technological changesmake demands, to which the Tayloristic ways of organisation of labour and old organ-isational structures cannot respond (Mok 1990). Modern methods of controlling costsand regulating labour have been introduced, characterised by outsourcing, subcon-tracting, just-in-time supply and enhanced use of all forms of 'non-standard' employ-ment (Felstead and Jewson 2000).

Flexibility has become one of the characteristic qualities of modern society (Atkin-son 1991; V. Frissen 1992; Gunter 1994; Forsebäck 1995; Niphuis-Nell 1996; CBS1996; V. Frissen 1999). Atkinson (1991), for example, identifies four types of flexibil-ity, derived from the model developed at the United Kingdom Institute of ManpowerStudies: numerical flexibility, functional flexibility, distancing strategies and pay flexi-bility.

The first, the numerical flexibility is concerned with the firm's ability to adjust thelevel of labour inputs to meet fluctuations in output. This includes: the use of part-time,temporary and short-term contracts, and casual workers; and the alteration of the

2 The energy-intensive assembly-line way of production, also indicated as 'Tayloristic'.


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working time patterns of existing labour resources in the form of varied shift patterns,overtime, 'annual hours' and flexitime. In the case of annual hours contracts, the workload can be divided unevenly over the year. Weijers en Weijers (1986) mention thistype of flexibility as a strategy of workers to meet peaks. Many authors (Atkinson1991; Greenbaum 1994; Gunter 1994; Felstead and Jewson 2000) perceive an increaseof flexible contracts, especially for women. The labour market in the Netherlandsshows differences in comparison with other European countries. In 1996 still 90 per-cent of the employees had a permanent employment contract and liked to keep it thatway (Niphuis-Nell 1996; Volkskrant 9 October 1997). The participation rate of womenincreased greatly, from 29 percent in 1979, to 41 percent in 1992 and 51 percent in1998. In 1998, 56 percent of couples had two incomes. However, in two third of thosedouble-income households, the woman has a part-time job (Sociaal en Cultureel Plan-bureau 2000). Different authors adduce different reasons for this fact. Lack of childcarefacilities and labour market situation is one reason; a self-chosen alternative in whichthe best of both worlds (home and work) can be combined is another (Keuzenkamp etal. 2000; Pessers 2000; van Gelder 2000).

Functional flexibility relates to changes in what workers do. It consists of the firm'sability to adjust and deploy the skills of its employees to match tasks required by itschanging workload, changing production methods and the advanced application oftechnology. It is concerned with the versatility of employees and their working flexi-bility within and between jobs. Atkinson's description does not mention flexibility inplace of work. Perhaps in 1991, telework was not such an obvious alternative as it isnow. Diversity in place of work and working hours can be seen as a form of functionalflexibility. It applies for instance to the extension of office hours, depending partly onhome-workers. In the words of a spokesperson of a large Dutch insurance company:

‘An increasing number of customers wants to report an insurance claim in theevening. Teleworkers are willing to work at different times than the traditionaloffice hours’ (Eindhovens Dagblad 5 October 2000).

The third type – distancing strategies –, is actually an alternative to flexibility ratherthan another form of flexibility. It is defined as the displacement of employment rela-tionships by commercial ones: outsourcing and subcontracting. Since this applies pri-marily to self-employment, this is not considered further for present purposes.

The final category, pay flexibility, involves the extent to which a company's pay andreward structure supports and reinforces the various types of numerical and/or func-tional flexibility which are being sought. In Chapter 2 (Telework definitions), paymentstructures have been treated.

Greenbaum (1994) introduces the word temporization, which represents the factthat office jobs are being dispersed over time and place. She argues that in the UnitedStates in the 1990s three patterns of change can be summarised. First, the time periodof work changed, moving from a full-time employment status to a part-time and tem-porary status. Second, job ladders are collapsing – integrating several tasks and some-times several jobs into one. Third, the location of work is changing - spreading fromcities, to rural work sites, to homes, and, of course, beyond national boundaries. Thesedevelopments are not reserved for women, nor typical for women's jobs. They are be-


43

coming more common in professional, technical and managerial occupations that hadbeen predominately jobs held by men.

In an environment of rapid change, requiring constant innovation, a more 'organic'or 'integrative' organisation is needed (Jackson and Van der Wielen 1998). With the useof information and communication technology, social relations can exist across widespans of time-space, up to and including global systems. Chains of interdependenciesthrough which people are linked together – especially within the production process,but also in the way they care for each other and are cared for – became longer, morecomplex and more differentiated. De Swaan (1982) calls this process unfolding, or the'generalization of interdependency'. Long ago, people were, in smaller numbers, moreinvolved with each other and less with outsiders. They formed small, manifold, closedand interwoven networks. The unfolding of dependencies implies that relationshipsoutside the initially closed network became more important and increased numerically.For every set of activities individuals became related to different networks of peopleand organisations (De Swaan 1982; 1988). These relationships of dependence havebecome more abstract and distant, whereas technical equipment (including media)enables people to perform increasingly more tasks without the direct mediation orpresence of others. Thus – though related to many others all over the world – individ-ual consumers have a degree of flexibility and personal freedom in their private lifelike never before. This freedom is limited again: the possession of cars, mobile phonesand television makes the modern western consumer less dependent on public servicesas public transport, telephone booths and the local theatre. However, the dependenceon energy supply and a network of supporting services makes individual survival im-possible (De Hart 1995). Changing organisational structures, a knowledge-based globaleconomy and flexibility are features of work modernisation that are favourable fortelework. We will come back to that in section 3.2 below.

3.1.3. Cultural changesChanges on a structural level exert influence on culture. The diversification and glob-alisation of production processes implies contact with and dependence on people allover the world. Expansion of the means of transport and the use of communicationtechnology – telegraph, telephone, radio, television, electronic mail – support the ex-change of goods and ideas between different continents, leaving only few people with-out any contact with the outside world. This global communication inevitably affectsculture, especially material goods and media, but also ideas and opinions.

Culture can be described as the values, norms and material goods characteristic of agiven group. Culture is one of the most distinctive properties of human social associa-tion (Giddens 1997). Without culture, we would have no language to express ourselves,no sense of self-consciousness, and our ability to think or reason would be severelylimited (Giddens 1997). Hofstede (1998) describes culture as the collective mentalprogramming of the members of one group or category of human beings. In Culture'sconsequences (1980) he found four dimensions by which one half of the country-to-country differences can be explained: large versus small power distance, strong versusweak uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versusfemininity. In later publications he adds long-term versus short-term orientation


44

(Hofstede 1994). At the level of everyday interactions, culture pervades every aspect oflife:

‘Culture is how we talk and dress, the food we eat and how we prepare andconsume it, the gods we invent and the ways we worship them, how we divide uptime and space, how we dance, the values to which we socialise our children,and all the other details that make up everyday life’ (Lull 1995: 66).

Douglas and Isherwood (1979) see consumption as the vital source of the culture of themoment. They define consumption as a use of material possessions that is beyondcommerce and free within the law. The choices made by the housewife – what shereserves for her household, what for guests, whom she invites into her house, whatparts of the house she makes available to outsiders, and, what she offers them for mu-sic, food, drink, and conversation – express and generate culture in its general sense:

‘Instead of supposing that goods are primarily needed for subsistence pluscompetitive display, let us assume that they are needed for making visible andstable the categories of culture’ (Douglas and Isherwood 1979: 59).

The concept of competitive display or conspicuous consumption stems from Veblen,who formulated this in 1899. In Veblen's model, consumption of goods by the lowerclasses is supposed to be merely for their continued reproduction, while only the upperclasses can consume for reasons that go far beyond subsistence, consuming conspicu-ously in order to indicate their qualities to the world. Certain sorts of activities, foods,clothes or drink are reserved for the conspicuously consuming classes (Corrigan 1997).Following this line of argument, post-modern society is defined as a consumption soci-ety in which people are what they buy. They distinguish themselves from others byconsuming differently, but through mass production, mass media and mass communi-cation they buy eventually roughly the same. In the consumption-information society,working time seems to be more often an interlude between leisure time and vacations.Material goods are increasingly substituted by services. Information itself became aconsumer good. The visual image gains importance (Bertels 1992). According to Lull(1995) the flood of symbolic imagery ushered in, especially by telecommunicationstechnology in the late twentieth century, has led to radical changes world-wide in thecultural syntheses people make. More than ever before, constructing and organisingeveryday life is a quintessential interpretative activity (Lull 1995).

Consumption in (post-)modern societies shows paradoxes comparable with thoseconcerning structural changes (Toffler 1981; Van der Loo en Van Reijen 1993; Free-man 1994; Handy 1995; De Hart 1995). Although societies develop unevenly andthough developments reflect divisions between developed and developing societies, ageneral increase of scale can be observed. That means mass consumption of similarproducts all over the world. CNN (Cable News Network) can be received almost eve-rywhere, Coca-Cola is consumed in hundreds of countries, various supermarkets indistant countries offer almost the same products and the whole world listens to thesame pop music. On the other hand, the number of options increases exponentially.


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Every year 30,000 new consumer products make their appearance on a market of300,000 different products.

Consumption patterns – and social life in general – change much faster than in pre-industrial society. According to Giddens (1991) one of the explanatory elements of thepeculiarly dynamic character of modern social life is the separation of time and space.'In pre-modern settings, time and space were connected through the situatedness ofplace’ (Giddens 1991: 16). Industrialisation also depended largely upon a unity of timeand space. It is characterised by a concentration of people, tools and resources in acommon setting, co-ordinating activities by synchronising them in time and space.These spatial and temporal structures are reflected in the culture of organisations.Mass-production industry relied on punctuality, discipline, obedience and conscien-tiousness to support time-space concentration and maintain coherence of the collectiv-ity. Co-ordinates of space and time have served as surrogates of performance anddiscipline: time-span and presence are used as indicators for performance. The spatial-temporal concentration of workers in conventional work practices is therefore not sim-ply a product of technical decisions and requirements, but is a highly social and politi-cal phenomenon (Jackson and Van der Wielen 1998). According to Felstead andJewson (2000) it is even argued that the rise of factory-located production was notsimply dictated by technological considerations, but reflected the determination ofemployers to exert greater external managerial control over unruly and unpredictableworkers.

Structural changes – as described in the preceding subsection – are reflected in cul-ture. A new generation of adults has grown up in a world of individualised technologyand has become used to individualised consumption patterns and time budgets. Onecan observe the erosion in the power of over-arching norms, values and consumptionpatterns, that derived from the subcultures of social class, occupation or place of resi-dence. Traditional institutes like school, work, church and family, decreasingly deter-mine the program of the day by fixed working hours and mealtimes (Volkskrant 1 July2000; Van den Broek et al. 1999). Van der Poel (1993), citing Blair, speaks of themodularisation of daily life. Blair is of the opinion that in traditional Europe the wholehas been emphasised at the expense of its parts: buildings had their overall conception,musical compositions their sequential logic of development, craftmanship its one-work-at-a-time sense of coherent design and decoration. Social and political systemsare cultural artefacts as well, and here too Europe traditionally cultivated a world inwhich everyone knew his or her place in a hierarchy and was encouraged not to strayfar from it. ‘The American emphasis shifted from whole to part, or more precisely,from a predictable whole sanctioned by tradition to an assemblage of parts’ (Blair1988, cited by Van der Poel 1993: 213). Blair describes the nineteenth century modu-larisation of education, production systems, sky scrapers, poetry, music, Americanfootball, landownership and religion. Van der Poel adds examples of the twentiethcentury: the jukebox, container transportation, nursery rooms, the colonial Indonesianrice table, children's toys, etceteras. He continues to describe daily life as a modularsystem. De Hart (1995) takes the same direction, mentioning that people can maketheir own choices out of a rich range of possibilities, including different social struc-tures, styles of consumption, hobbies, recreational activities, educational systems andpolitical or religious convictions. The freedom to choose means that actors can realise


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their own life story. However, it has to be said that modern western people are not onlyfree to choose, but are also forced to choose, and not everybody is capable in handlingthe richness of choices well (Van der Poel 1993; Casimir 1987). Kohnstamm (2000)argues that total personal freedom does not lead to more, but even to fewer choices,because people can only choose from the things they already know. This reduces therisks, but also the chance of discoveries and surprises. Exclusively independent, self-made choices can easily lead to one-sidedness, which is the shortest route to the flatmediocrity. Therefore she wonders if freedom makes people happier.

Another key characteristic of modern culture – also related to the development ofscience and technology – is the emphasis on rationality and accompanying quantifica-tion. Rationality indicates the ordering and systematising of reality, in order to make itpredictable and controllable. Starting in the Middle Ages, modern western humanitydeveloped from a world controlled by demons or mysterious forces to a rational, con-trollable and malleable society. People are no longer part of nature, but try to under-stand and dominate nature (Jan Romein, cited in Van der Loo en Van Reijen 1993).According to Van der Loo and Van Reijen rationalisation – calculation, reasoning andcontrol – imposes itself upon our thoughts and behaviour. It has a theoretical and apractical side. Increasing knowledge and a more scientific worldview on one hand, asystematic aiming for goals and a meticulous calculation of the applied means on theother hand. This leads to measurable output and examinable targets, combined in aculture of negotiation, as the key issues in the eighties and nineties.

However, this is but one side of the coin. On the other side, people seem to attachmore and more significance to family and leisure time – although the family itselfseems to loose significance (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 1998). Also a growinginterest in the environment can be perceived, and in alternative medicine, mysticismand religion (Toffler 1983; Bertels 1992; Van der Loo en van Reijen 1993). The So-ciaal en Cultureel Planbureau (2000) describes the Dutch norms and values – in com-parison with other European countries – as relatively liberal and tolerant. A 'traditionalway of life' has the lowest reputation in the Netherlands and Denmark. Divorce andhomosexuality are widely accepted. Dutch people support an equal division of tasksbetween men and women. Only 19 percent of the Dutch see the traditional division – inwhich the man works outside the home and the woman does the housekeeping – as theonly correct possibility. Only in Sweden and Denmark are these percentages lower:respectively 15 and 13 percent. However, norms and beliefs differ from actual practice.Figures of division of labour – both on the labour market and within the household –show little differences with the United Kingdom or Germany (Sociaal en CultureelPlanbureau 2000). This will be further explored in Chapter 4 (Theoretical framework)

3.1.4. Changes on an individual levelResearchers in different countries and continents, starting from different theoreticalconcepts, agree on the fact that ever more people give preference to self-development,autonomy and privacy, abandoning an existence dominated by traditions (Toffler 1971,1983; Giddens 1991; Kim et al. 1994). Educated people in the industrialised countriesaspire to decide independently, to live an exiting life, to reach something in life, todevelop themselves, and to enjoy life as long as possible. This society is described with


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terms like individualistic age, permissive society or narcissism culture (Van der Loo enVan Reijen 1993: 162).

Individualism – though existing in some form in all cultures – is predominantly amodern concept, and vice versa, it can be called a core characteristic of modern society(Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 1998). The idea that each person has a unique char-acter and special potentialities that may or may not be fulfilled, is typical for modernculture. In medieval Europe the individual's role was relatively passive and individual-ity was not prized. With the emergence of modern societies and, more particularly,with the differentiation of the division of labour, the separate individual became a focusof attention (Durkheim 1895, cited by Giddens 1991). At the same time, characteristicfor the industrial society was – as we have seen in former sections – a far-reachingstandardisation, mass consumption and mass communication, which leaves only lim-ited room for individual choices. Toffler (1983) argues, that in the third wave a processof demassification takes place. Inventive solutions are found to individualise productsand services, ranging from variable contracts to personalised consumption patterns.The demassification of the media also influences our thoughts and the symbols thatdescribe our worldview. Society will have to face a variety of philosophies of life,ideas, symbols and values. This cultural demassification results in an individualisedmind (Toffler 1983).

Hofstede (1991) describes individualism as pertaining to societies in which the tiesbetween individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself andhis or her immediate family. He tries to quantify the extent of individualism, referringto a research among IBM-employees in fifty countries and three groups of countries.Societies are considered to be individualistic when they attach relatively more impor-tance to leisure time (time for private life and family), freedom in the execution of paidlabour, and challenge in work. These three attributes underline the employee's inde-pendence of his or her employer. Conversely a more collective society is a society thatemphasises the opportunity for training, good working conditions and the use ofknowledge and skills, which the organisation provides for its employees. The UnitedStates of America received the highest score on the individualism scale, followed byAustralia and Great-Britain, Canada and the Netherlands sharing the fourth position.Brazil and the Arab countries are in the middle, while the end of the line is taken byPanama, Ecuador and Guatamala (Hofstede 1998). A correlation between wealth andindividualism is found: richer countries score higher on the individualism-index, col-lectively-oriented countries are often poorer.

The appreciation of the process of individualisation differs. Some authors are posi-tive, because modern individuals are very well capable to make intentional choices andto plan their own life independently and in a rational way. Others are convinced thatindividualism leads to 'hyper-individualism', egotism and hedonism. Breaking awayfrom traditional values and institutions – like religion and church – might bring aboutfeelings of powerlessness, loneliness and relativism (Van der Loo en Van Reijen1993). De Tocqueville (1805-1859) and Durkheim (1858-1917) are of the opinion thatthe individual has freed himself or herself from the oppression of traditional socialassociations. The tone of their work is optimistic, but they discus the fact that the al-most infinite wants of the individual could conflict with socially accepted behaviour.Toffler (1971) is unmistakably optimistic, when he argues that the super-industrial


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society will not overwhelm the individual in a grey, painful uniformity, but on thecontrary will radiate possibilities for personal growth, adventure and joy. This societywill be colourful and open to individuality. Already in 1970 – long before the massintroduction of the World Wide Web – he demonstrates that new technologies enablepersonalised applications, for instance a different newspaper for every reader. Masscommunication looses under those circumstances the notion 'mass'. ‘We are on the wayfrom homogeneity to heterogeneity’, he says in Future shock (Toffler 1971). In 1983 heis, in the Third Wave, even more optimistic, labelling the transition from the industrialworld – the second wave – to the third wave as revolutionary changes.

Toffler is apparently not afraid of the bureaucracy, one of the dangerous aspects ofmodern society, already formulated by Max Weber some hundred and fifty years ago(1864/1920, cited by Van der Loo en Van Reijen 1993). Weber envisaged an oppres-sion of the individual by social structures. Bureaucracy is the only way of organisinglarge numbers of people effectively, and therefore inevitably expands with economicand political growth. The pessimistic view on the growth of bureaucracy is reflected inseveral novels in the twentieth century, summarised in the famous sentence: Bigbrother is watching you, stemming from Aldous Huxley's Brave new world (1932).Other novels that depict a world in which the individual is oppressed by bureaucracyare Orwell's 1984 (1948) and the novels of Kafka (1935a, 1935b).

Though most people in the modern western societies regard individualisation asprogress, it is also held responsible for less valued phenomena like criminality, politi-cal indifference, lack of responsibility, hedonism and moral numbness (Sociaal enCultureel Planbureau 1998). Loneliness is another aspect of individualisation, empha-sised by Handy (1995), calling it the 'real disease of the next century.’ Modem,Walkman and television insulate people from others, who do not know where to con-nect to or what they belong (Handy 1995). Individualisation is often equated with pri-vacy. Where loneliness has a negative ring, privacy has a positive connotation: it is asought-after being alone, with emotional and interpersonal aspects, but also with aspatial component (Klein Meulenkamp 1986).

Van der Loo and Van Reijen point out that both the pessimistic and the optimisticviews see insufficiently the paradox of individualisation. The pessimists say that peo-ple – though thinking they became, in the course of history, more free and autonomous– are in reality trapped in a network of anonymous and bureaucratic relationships. Asagainst this vision, the optimists think that modern people are better able to determinetheir own fate and own responsibilities. The paradox is that individuals are increasinglyindependent in their choices, but at the same time they are forced to make thesechoices. Paradoxically they increasingly seem to make the same choices all over theworld (Van der Loo en Van Reijen 1993). Or in the words of Nowotny:

‘A massproduced and commercialized entertainment supply of information andservices advertises to suit the ideosyncratic whims of each individual consumer,helps to standardize taste and shape demand according to the guiding principlescontained in its supply’ (Nowotny 1982: 104).

The paradox applies to consumption, but is also applicable to political decision-making, as discussed in Orwell of Athene, a compilation of articles on democracy and


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information society (P. Frissen et al. 1992). Application of ICT enables direct individ-ual consultation by opinion polls and plebiscites. This can be very democratic, but atthe same time undermines the active participation of citizens and the formation of po-litical opinions in the context of organisations in which they participate (i.e. work,neighbourhood, union). Electronic plebiscites – unless they are organised in theframework of a social debate – can lead to a push-button-democracy with passive reg-istration of opinions formed in an isolated private situation (at home watching TV).One of the values of the democratic system is exactly that the pro's and cons of argu-ments are considered in a process in which all interested parties can contribute. If theforming of political opinions would shift from group settings to isolated citizens, theprotective and stabilising function of groups would perish (Van den Donk en Tops1992).

The process of individualisation, the erosion of kinship relationships and villagecommunities, is already going on for over a century. In the last twenty-five years indi-vidualism also penetrates the last stronghold of traditional society, namely the family.In 1998 only 14 percent of the Dutch population considered unmarried people morepitiful than married people. In 1965 60 percent took that view. Nevertheless, almosteverybody wants to share his or her adult life with a partner, but the former automatismof marriage made way for a chain of considerations with an uncertain outcome. Theindividualisation has been leading to an increasing number of different types of house-holds, with a striking increase of single persons. In 1970 17 percent of Dutch house-holds consisted of singles, in 1998 their share was almost doubled. This increasedparticipation of women can also be seen as a result of the individualisation process (DeHoog 1995; De Hoog en Vinkers 198; Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 1998; NRC 4January 2001).

3.1.5. Development of technologyGiddens (1997) defines technology as:

‘The application of knowledge to production from the material world.Technology involves the creation of material instruments (such as machines)used in human interaction with nature’ Giddens (1997: 596).

The impact of technological development on economic and social structure is pro-found. According to Galbraith (1967), the most important consequence of the applica-tion of technology is in forcing the division and subdivision of any task in itscomponent parts. Micro-processor based technologies, in particular, have an invasivecharacter because their application is not restricted to one domain of activity. The in-troduction of electronic commodities has had a propelling force in individualised con-sumption patterns as well (De Hart 1995).

Technology is regarded by some authors as a panacea for all kinds of problems, byothers as a curse. An optimistic belief in the future, common among those engineerswho focus only on the specific functions of technology, is in marked contrast to theambivalence and pessimism often found among social theorists and philosophers. Inthe latter vision advancing technology can be a dangerous force that dominates and


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controls mankind, standardises the qualities of human life, and makes cultures morehomogeneous. In this vision consumers of new artefacts are passively shaped by theseconstructions, seduced by promises of better living (Lie and Sørensen 1996b).

Both visions are often presented as each other’s contradiction, but in fact they arereal paradoxes. Both are true; dependence and liberation go together, technology, man-kind and society are inextricably related (Van der Loo en Van Reijen 1993). An inte-grated and constructivist approach of technology makes room for a type of analysis thatis more sensitive to the contradictions, contingencies, and nuances of technologicaldevelopment. In this approach, the determinist conception of technology is abandoned.Technology is seen as something unfinished and thus malleable in principle (Nowotny1982; Lie and Sørensen 1996b).

Technological developments penetrate only partly the direct living environment ofpeople. The influence develops more implicitly and through the production process,and becomes manifest in productivity of labour – which increased in the Netherlandsbetween 1970 and 1995 with over 70 percent per year (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau1998). In everyday settings, we consume technologies – or, more precisely, technicalartefacts – by integrating and using them. We are also consumed by the artefacts whenthey gain our attention and have us react to them and become occupied by their abili-ties, functions, and forms. This dual relationship between humans and technologies isthe outcome of a process of domestication. Metaphorically speaking, we tame the wildand exciting technologies that surround us in our everyday life. This process of tamingis characterised by reciprocal change: the tamed technologies are cultivated as well. Inthis process new technologies and services, to a significant degree unfamiliar – andtherefore both exciting and threatening and perplexing – are brought under control bydomestic users. However, in their ownership and in their appropriation into the cultureof family or household and into the routines of everyday life, they are at the same timecultivated. They become familiar, but they also develop and change. And these devel-opments and changes, the product of the work consumers do in taking possession ofnew technologies and services, feed back into the innovation process. This is why theinnovation process is so difficult to predict (Silverstone 1994; Van der Loo en VanReijen 1993).

The notions described above, also apply to new information and communicationtechnology, but these new technologies have new characteristics as well. Before theintroduction of ICT, the application of advanced technology required an increased spanof time between the beginning and the completion of any task and an increase of capi-tal. Knowledge and equipment were dedicated to a specific task, which made the pro-duction process increasingly inflexible. As a result an increased need for planningarose. 'The prospect had to be carefully appraised. And the customer had to be care-fully conditioned to want this blessing’ (Galbraith 1967: 29). ICT bears different eco-nomical consequences. There is relatively few capital needed for investment, and notinflexibility, but flexibility is the key issue. Furthermore – and this is new comparedwith all former technological developments – ICT controls not only our physical sur-roundings, but is also directed to ourselves and our social relationships (P. Frissen1992). Information and communication technology effect an increased accessibility ofpersons and organisations. It enables the processing of complex information and im-proves or innovates communication between computer systems and the outside world


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(Grijpink 1992). Modern equipment like microwave oven, video recorder and Internet,enable a better temporal division of activities, through which one is less dependent onothers. Meals can be heated at every desired moment, films can be seen during the day,information can be retrieved during the night (Van de Broek en Breedveld 2000). Thusflexibility is mirrored in everyday life.

Though new in certain ways, the development of ICT shows parallels with the de-velopment of former technologies (Nowotny 1982). The first parallel is the potential torationalisation and increased productivity. Second, Nowotny notices a striking resem-blance with the conveyer belt. Ford's discovery changed the order of things, by movingthe pieces to be produced around, instead of moving people. Likewise, informationtechnology makes it possible to move data around instead of people. The main effect ofthese techno-systems is their inclusive nature: once the techno-system is about to es-tablish itself, it becomes virtually impossible to remain outside its gripping force. Data-processing can be regarded as a continuation of a story which began with the industrialrevolution, and which incorporates the development of abstract terminologies withinthe development of technologies. Information technology is basically a technology ofco-ordination and control of the labour force, the white collar workers, which tayloristorganisation does not cover.

The application of technology is gender-biased (Nowotny 1982; Lie and Sørensen1996). Some feminist studies see technology as an effective tool in the balance ofpower between men and women. In this view technological development is taken as apatriarchal strategy, aimed at the control over nature, including women. Also whentechnology is not regarded as a control mechanism, researchers find significant differ-ences between men and women. For instance, Tijdens (1989), De Rooij (1992), Cock-burn and Ormrod (1995) and others (Turkle 1986; V. Frissen 1992; Webster 1994; V.Frissen 2000) note substantial gender differences in accessibility to information andcommunication technology and in the use of technological products. Women display adifferent style in using new technology. They use computers often in an efficient, func-tional way, when they need to know something or want to have a task performed. Menand boys more often use the technology for entertainment. Initially, these differenceswere regarded as problematic, a token of techno-phobia. In more recent years there is agreater acknowledgement of the differences. Technological development is no longerseen as an inescapable progression, but as a social-cultural development in which cer-tain values and meanings are dominant. Many women and senior citizens react withtheir rejection more to the representation and the social context of technology, than tothe technology itself (V. Frissen 2000).

Lately however, women are catching up. The active internet use of men in theNetherlands increased from 1998 to 2000 from 22 to 53 percent; women's use raisedfrom 8 to 38 percent (Pro Active 2000). In the USA however, 60 percent of new Inter-net home-users are women (NUA 2000). It is not unthinkable that e-mail use developsin the same direction as telephone use. There we see the roles change. Women use thetelephone for communication, men for instrumental messages (V. Frissen 1997).


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3.1.6. The interrelation of the four perspectivesThe four different perspectives, discussed in the above sections, could be discerned butnot separated. Changes in structure, culture, technology and on an individual levelaffect each other mutually. Changes in one field are not possible without the other. Themain characteristics of modern society – modularisation, flexibilisation, individualisa-tion and globalisation – can be observed from all four perspectives, but are also inter-related themselves. For instance, observing flexibility from a structural point of view,we see flexible work patterns, independent on time and space. From a cultural point ofview, flexibility means flexible consumer patterns, resulting in a modularisation ofdaily life. This modularisation is connected with personalised, diversified consumptionpatterns. Technology facilitates these developments, by enabling flexible productionpatterns, global distribution and local diversification, and by supporting the acquire-ment of consumer information.

The ultimate consequence of the development of the information society is the re-versal of the chain of supply and demand. The increased power of consumers, com-bined with new production methods, realises a situation in which consumer demandsteers production instead of the other way around. An example is the manufacturing offurniture and cars, which starts after the order is made. This development applies inparticular to the media and other information-intensive sectors. As a result of the Inter-net, the control over society seems to shift from the established institutions to the indi-vidual (Giesen 2001). Newspapers are threatened in there existence or will at least haveto change their focus when almost everybody can combine thousands of sources on theweb. The same fate will strike the music industry when consumers no longer buy CD'sbut download their favourite songs. Citing Shapirio's The control revolution, Giesenargues that the judgement of politicians, journalists, medical staff and captains of in-dustry will be disputed. The advocates of this development see the old ideal of directdemocracy realised through the Internet. The critics warn for a world in which personalinconvenience is more important than war. Cheap mass media played an important rolein the establishing of social cohesion. On the Internet this cohesion dissipates again.Information from the web can be richer and more satisfying as long as personal hob-bies are concerned, but news that is of importance for a whole community could getlost (Giesen 2001).

3.2. Telecommuting and societal changeTelework is one of the many means and methods managers have available to react tochanges in the environment (Limburg 1998). The above-described societal changes arefavourable for the development of telecommuting. At the same time, the core charac-teristics of telework seem to become a defining feature of all work in the informationsociety:

‘The critical use of electronic network technologies is enabling or promoting thecore characteristics of telework, thereby profoundly affecting all types of workwhether or not traditionally considered as telework; telework thus has spill-overeffects on all work’ (European Commission 1998: 11).


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In March 2000, the European Council concluded that the shift to a digital, knowledge-based economy, prompted by new goods and services, will be a powerful engine forgrowth, competitiveness and jobs. In addition, it will be capable of improving citizen'squality of life and the environment.

These and other aspects of the information society are discussed in this section andgrouped according to the four dimension of societal change: structure, culture, the in-dividual and technology. Telework can be seen as an answer to global and societalchange, or as a reaction to external developments like outsourcing, decentralising, in-creasing flexibility, and the increase of international competition. Telework can also bea personal choice of individual employees or a result of improved electronic infra-structure and the availability of cheap, high quality technology (Geerdink et al. 2000).

3.2.1. Structural aspectsIn the 1998 Status Report on European Telework, the European Commission lists anumber of core characteristics of modern society beneficial to telework. Some of thosecharacteristics relate to changes in organisational structures and flexibility:

‘Work takes place in disaggregated, often dispersed, smaller organisationalunits displaying delayered, flatter hierarchical structures. (..) Work becomesmore project-like with specific goals, budgets, processes, organisation and timehorizons. Work becomes more dynamic and flexible in response to rapidlychanging market situations'. (European Commission 1998: 11)

The dynamics and flexibility of work in general, and the well-defined goals of projects,match very well with telecommuting practices. Vice versa, the flexibility of organisa-tions can be increased by telecommuting (Weijers 1995; Telewerkforum 2000). It en-ables the employer to react quickly on changes in the market, and it improves theaccessibility of the organisation and its employees by, for instance, extending servicehours. This is one of the opportunities that improve the service level of the companyand might indirectly affect turnover (European Commission 1998).

This last aspect – turnover, profit and thus productivity – is, after all, the main ob-jective of organisations:

‘Although the benefits of telework at the societal and individual level are veryimportant, it is the business benefits which are most likely to drive its futuredevelopment’ (European Commission 1998: 20).

Similarly, Nilles (2000b) asserts that the first rule of teleworking is that it: ‘… MUSTprovide a positive economic benefit to employers’. Therefore, it is not surprising thattelecommuting projects and publications focus on the increase in productivity and theimprovement of the quality of the delivered work (Zegveld et al. 1995; Suomi, 1998;Spinks 1999; Gordon 1997; Telewerkforum 2000; European Telework Online 2000).Both employees and employers expect – and in fact realise – a higher productivitywhen working at home. Productivity increases of 40 percent have been reported,though a range of 10 to 40 percent is probably more typical across a large-scale pro-


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gramme (European Telework Online 2000). The European Commission states thatwhite-collar productivity is difficult to quantify, but mentions an increase of 0 to 45percent depending on the circumstances. There appears to be no evidence of any caseswhere it has been associated with reduced output (European Commission 1998). AKensington Telecommuting Survey indicates in 1998 that nearly 75 percent of tele-commuters say they get a lot more work done while at home or on the road, as opposedto time spent in the corporate office. The majority said their productivity level wasabout 30 percent higher (Investor's Business Daily, cited at NUA 2000).

In all citations on productivity improvements associated with the utilisation of tele-work one has to exercise some caution on the questions of definition and measurement.Furthermore, the increase of productivity might be caused by a 'researcher effect'. Dif-ferent studies (Weijers 1995; European Commission 1998; Limburg 1998) emphasisethat the extra attention and coaching that accompany telecommuting projects can havea positive effect on the participants. Telecommuters have to be managed on output,rather than on presence. The consequence is that in many instances the work of thetelecommuters has to be redefined. This alone might cause an increase of productivity,or at least raise the quality of the work performed. Moreover, in some projects the bestemployees are selected and rewarded with the possibility to take part. A positive as-sessment of the project is in the participants’ advantage, because it exerts influence oncontinuation. Gordon expresses his suspicion about big productivity gains for tele-commuters as follows:

‘First of all, remember that the concept of 'productivity’ is an industrial-ageterm that compares output with input; when output goes up per unit of input,that's a productivity increase. But that concept is woefully inadequate whenapplied to most office work; there isn't the same simple kind of input-outputrelationship for knowledge workers’ (Gordon 2000).

Like the European Commission, Gordon finds it hard to define 'white-collar productiv-ity'. Nevertheless, he comes across references to productivity gains in the range of 15to 25 percent. He prefers to use the term 'effectiveness', which includes quantity ofwork produced, quality, timeliness, and ability to handle multiple projects and priori-ties:

‘We have seen in case after case that telecommuters are doing more and betterwork, are meeting their deadlines better, and are better able to juggle multiplepriorities and deadlines. Call it what you will - productivity, effectiveness, orsomething else: the results are there’ (Gordon 1997).

The European Commission calls it business efficiency and sums up a range of differentbenefits, including productivity. One of the other benefits is the ability to decentraliseactivities to get closer to the customer in both time and space. Next to that, once tele-commuting is introduced, the company is able to form, and re-form 'virtual teams' atshort notice. Easier recruitment and retention of valued personnel can also be an argu-ment to introduce telecommuting. Finally, savings on office overheads, travel costs and


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a decrease in sickness absenteeism will contribute to the profit of the firm (EuropeanCommission 1998; Steward 1999).

Generally, the productivity effect of telework is calculated per day, implicitly as-suming that each additional day of telework causes the same productivity increase.Gareis (1998) puts this assumption on trial and expects a correlation between tele-working days per week and average daily productivity changes. Predominant absencefrom the office environment means that teleworkers are excluded from circulating in-formation, especially informal information that might be vital for their work. There-fore, the total productivity effect of telework might fall to zero if specialists work fromhome on four days per week, and may even turn out to be negative in the case of per-manent telework (Gareis 1998).

The emphasis on productivity might disregard aspects that are difficult to be ex-pressed in measurable, quantitative goals. Employees can be valued because they are agood colleague, stimulating and motivating others just by being around. The informaltalks over the coffee machine – Hill et al. (1996) call them 'water cooler break times' –are the famous example: there the good ideas arise, there the basis of promotion seemsto be laid (Casimir 1999c).

Failed projects are very poorly documented. When telecommuting does not pay off,the project is often ended and not discussed further. People who cannot concentrate athome – because they are too much distracted by household chores, children or thetemptations of other activities – are called back or choose to work in the employer’soffice again. In some cases they realise how much they like being at home and takingcare of the children, and decide to reduce the number of hours they work in their paidjob (Vernooij en Casimir 1996). The 2000 Status Report on New Ways of Work, spendsa section on 'bad practice in telework'. Characteristics of bad practice are grouped un-der the headings bad management, no integration, not enough control over costs andemployee exploitation. No integration includes: insufficient IT-support, no work proc-ess adaptation, no change in communication patterns, only a small share of teleworkersper unit, lack of involvement of works councils and neglecting of data security issues(Johnston and Nolan 2000). This list does not clarify how often projects fail, but itmakes clear that they can fail on a variety of aspects.

Although the number of teleworkers is steadily growing (see Chapter 2, Teleworkdefinitions), the concern for teleworking as such seems to decline since telework be-comes an integrated part of strategic company policies. These policies are, in the lightof increasing globalisation, aimed at a better service level, more flexibility, improve-ment of electronic infrastructure and redesign of work processes that are increasinglyinterdependent globally. Telework is not just a new way of working, but an element inadvancing telematising (Geerdink et al. 2000).

3.2.2. Cultural aspectsThe cultural aspects of modernisation – the development of a consumption-informationsociety, modularisation, individualised consumption patterns, rationalisation andegalitarianism – are reflected in the work environment. Individualised working patternsbecome current, with workers gaining more independence and self-control (Van derLoo en Van Reijen 1993; V. Frissen 2000). As organisations become more dependent


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on skilled workers, they have to reckon with their aspirations. Control can no longer beassured by compulsion, because the processes are so much more complex. Everyguarded and forced worker would call for a many times larger number of guards andenforcers. The process can only function when workers believe that they are cared forin the way they care for their work. Bare compulsion makes space for persuasion andfinally conviction of the workers themselves (De Swaan 1982). Although Felstead andJewson (2000) note that there is 'surprisingly little evidence’ that supports this view, itis generally felt that new practices of management evolve, characterised by an ostensi-bly 'high trust' model. Organisational governance tends to develop away from the ex-ternal imposition of bureaucratic rules and regulations towards the internalisation ofnorms, values and attitudes through the manipulation of organisational culture or cor-porate identity:

‘The values of entrepreneurialism – and an ideological construction of theentrepreneurial personality – have become the dominant practices,organisational forms and personal identities that public and private sector firmsseek to encourage’ (Felstead and Jewson 2000: 113).

Work cultures exhibit more and more delegation and horizontal communication(Gordon 2000). Employees are increasingly required to meet externally-set productiontargets by taking responsibility for their own output through the development of inno-vative, self-directed and creative problem-solving techniques (Felstead and Jewson2000; Geerdink et al. 2000). Greater trust becomes more important to most work rela-tions, and all parties involved in work need to develop flexible attitudes (Johnston andNolan 2000; European Commission 1998; Krijgsman 1999). ‘Employers who are stuckon the old 9-to-5 model of everyone being a full-time, 'regular' worker are really out ofdate', is the opinion of Gordon (2000). These employers are missing a good opportu-nity to attract and retain top-quality workers who need more flexibility.

Despite observed alterations, culture is still perceived as the most important barrierto teleworking. In this respect first of all 'management attitudes' are mentioned, rangingfrom 'conservatism' or 'fear of change' to fear that the remote workers will not performadequately or fear of managers to become redundant (European Commission 1998).Geerdink et al. (2000) remark that managers in simple projects can call upon manualswith practical guidelines, action plans and lists of do's and don'ts. However, these arenot sufficient in bigger organisational processes of change with higher risks. The socialand cultural dimension of those change processes appear to be most crucial. Changes inworking times and working spaces must be seen in the context of social processes. Notthe physical denotation of time and place is the issue, but in what way employees at-tribute social significance to time and space. The logic of mass production was basedon punctuality, precision, ardour, discipline, obedience and responsibility. Place andtime aspects of work are historically connected with opinions about industrial disci-pline and status hierarchy. The satisfaction of wants for variation, challenge, autonomyand influence are directly coupled to promotion, progress and career. Self-organisation,absence of the work place and distance are related to authority, prestige and status andtherefore cultural inappropriate for subordinates. Geerdink et al. are of the opinion thatthe telework debate is in its essence a discussion about norms and values. This discus-


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sion is not restricted to the management culture, but is also applicable to the way col-leagues communicate with one another. The co-operation between teleworking col-leagues becomes for a part more formalised: one has to arrange a meeting with others,because the chance of coincidental running into somebody at the corridor is reduced toalmost zero. At the same time, the 'virtual meetings' at the Internet, become more in-formal: in electronic communication status symbols evanesce. The emphasis on func-tionality changes the hierarchic balance of power within organisations, eventuallyleading to the formation of self-regulating teams (Geerdink et al. 2000). As Jacksonand Van der Wielen (1998) put it:

‘…the integration of dispersed activities demands new forms of co-operation,co-ordination and control. Consequently, telework becomes not simply anexperiment in cost-efficient production, but more importantly, an exercise inself-management by the workers themselves. It demands reduced input controland output-oriented management and supervision’ (Jackson and Van der Wielen1998: 14).

Hengstmengel (2000) and Gordon (1999) emphasise the role of other cultural aspectsthat exceed flexibility and that have to be taken into account to make ICT-related de-velopments to a success. Hengstmengel lists the cultural elements an organisation hasto consider, when evolving to a digital community. These elements range from clothingand working hours to the use of the company logo and leased cars. In his opinion, theoffice obtains the character of a community centre, where people meet each other, for-mally and informally, but not routinely (Hengstmengel 2000). Gordon (1999) pre-sented in his key note speech at the Tokyo Telework Conference 1999 this very issueas one of the major mistakes made in telework: 'Not enough emphasis on the role ofcorporate culture'. Discussions on norms and values relate not only to leadership andcommunication within the work environment, but also extend to the private sphere.Teleworkers will need to develop skills in managing the psychological and socialboundaries between work and home. Telework can be used as a strategy in balancingwork and private life. This will be one of the subjects in Chapters 4 (Theoreticalframework) and 5 (Exploring the field).

3.2.3. Individual aspectsThe border between cultural changes and changes on an individual level is difficult todraw, because cultural norms and values permeate the personality and behaviouralrepertoire of individuals. Changes in organisational culture seem to require employees,who are capable to invent their own job, career, qualifications, biography and ulti-mately themselves (Felstead and Jewson 2000; Hengstmengel 2000). Or, as the Euro-pean Commission states:

‘The individual takes more responsibility for his or her own development ofskills, competence and career paths. The individual develops the skills ofworking independently but also co-operatively in both physical and networkscontexts; this encompasses professional expertise as well as all-round


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competencies such as use of Information Society Technologies (ISTs), commonsense, organisational work-management, planning, human relationship andteam working skills’ (European Commission 1998: 11).

Increasing personal flexibility is often mentioned as the most important objective oftelecommuters (Weijers 1995). Sometimes this flexibility is necessary because of thecare for smaller children. In other cases it is desirable to be able to take advantage of acreative or productive state of mind. In all cases it fits with general trends in society.When working from home, telecommuters have to manage their own time and space ingetting the job done within a deadline. They must control the progress and the qualityof their work themselves, and they need to be self-motivated. Besides that they willhave to manage the interface between paid work and unpaid, domestic chores (Felsteadand Jewson 2000).

Many aspects of societal change, discussed as business benefits in section 3.2.1, arealso beneficial for individuals. Examples are – next to personal flexibility – job secu-rity, increased productivity and decrease of sickness absenteeism (Steward 1999). Onereason for this latter decrease can be that the increase of productivity and the raisedquality of the work also increase the satisfaction with the work in general, which leadsto less stress and less absenteeism. Another reason is that illness is often not reported.Conventional office hours and working patterns normally serve to define illness anddefine occupational related disorders. According to Steward, illness is the subjectiveevaluation and experience of bodily symptoms of malaise. Someone who is ill, is not ina condition to work or to perform other daily occupations. Office work is associatedwith stress related to commuting, team dynamics and contaminating environments.Computer work is associated with repetitive strain injuries, eye problems and musculo-skeletal strain. In the traditional office, people are permitted to cease working whentheir mobility, social communication and work endurance are not adequate. In com-parison telecommuting is viewed as removing these risks (Steward 1999). According toSteward, there appear to be only few occasions when telecommuters are too sick towork. This is also the case with traditional home-workers. Overdiep and Visser (1983)report the words of a home-worker: ‘There might be regulations for sickness leave, butas a home-worker you don't report yourself being sick so easily. If you don't feel wellone day, you work a bit harder the other day.’ This particular woman remarks that thisgoes at the expense of her body, because she works on until she is really dangerouslyill (Overdiep en Visser 1983). For telecommuters the danger might even be bigger: theworker is constantly available to the work, and the work to the telecommuter. Evenhospital admission no longer precludes carrying out work. Telecommuters reportednew sickness behaviours. Rather than deciding not to work and remaining off sick forthe rest of that day, they continually monitored their work fitness, recommencing ifonly for short periods when symptoms diminished. Short periods of work thus becamepossible, which served to reinforce the self-perception of not being ill (Steward 1999).

Steward puts forward that many dislike the traditional black-and-white decisionsabout being fit or unfit to work. Many like to work flexibly in ways that match theirfluctuating state of health. She also found that telecommuters experience a time/spaceparadox. Going home to be sick is impossible for them. It is difficult, or even impossi-ble, to find a sick space, impenetrable to work or employers. Working in a bedroom,


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the sick and work space is co-terminus. Defining a time to be sick is also problematic.Without a medical certificate or a culturally determined time span for an illness, manytelecommuters are at a loss about how to be sick at home. According to Steward, tele-commuting thus might change the definitions of sickness. Steward’s research raises theissue whether employers are aware of the long term consequences on the quality ofwork-output.

Despite those critical remarks regarding sickness, the above-mentioned authorscome to the conclusion that most teleworkers value their status positively. The in-creased flexibility and grown responsibility for their own work can contribute to thequality of life. This will be one of the issues in this research.

3.2.4. Technological aspectsThe definition of telework indicates the significance of technology. Without informa-tion and communication technology (ICT), the concept of teleworking would not exist.ICT is capable to bridge time zones and space. Because of ICT, it hardly matters whereand when people work. However, the technological possibilities do not guarantee theuse of it in every situation. Cultural aspects, routine, structure, personal preferences oreconomical conditions are likewise important. Not every country has an infrastructurethat is sufficient to enable telecommuting, not every household has enough money andspace to install a computer. Nevertheless sooner or later ICT will penetrate all aspectsof modern life. According to the European Commission:

‘Work becomes fully networked, covering both physical interaction as well asinteraction and communication over the telecommunications network’(European Commission 1998: 11).

ICT enables co-operatively working across national boundaries or time zones, therebyfully exploiting the 24-hour day. The use of technological artefacts – computers, faxes,Internet, mobile phones – has grown tremendously over the past few years. Accordingto Multiscope (2000), 56 percent of the Dutch population owns a mobile telephone;almost two third of Dutch households have a PC and 39 percent have Internet accessfrom home. Mass access to the Internet heralds an imminent and revolutionary leap inthe number of jobs that could potentially be done at home for all or part of the time(Felstead and Jewson 2000).

ICT has become normal, for users as well as for suppliers. Consequently, ICT is aminor issue in telework practices. As stated before, the attention in telework projectsshifts from technological issues to organisational, cultural and individual aspects.Technology needed for telework is proven technology (Geerdink et al. 2000). Notwith-standing that, the focus of many telework projects is still on the technical implementa-tion of home work spaces or flexwork offices, even though a known advocate likeGordon (1999) calls the emphasis on technology one of the biggest mistakes. TheEuropean Commission (1998) sees a lack of infrastructure, hard- and software capableof supporting data-intensive teleworking at acceptable speed, not only as a seriousbarrier to the uptake of teleworking in an absolute sense. It also introduces relativedifferences between European regions.


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A serious aspect of the use of advanced technology for remote working is the threatto security. Unauthorised access should be prevented and copying of confidential datashould be discouraged. Gordon (2000) does not want to trivialise security concerns, buthe emphasises that they should be considered in relation to other security measures. Aslong a employees can walk out the door of their organisation with reports, drawings,diskettes, files, and anything else in their pockets or briefcases, it is incorrect to saythat telecommuting presents a new and different security risk. Security risks can partlybe fenced off by hardware and software solutions, which are not completely secure, butform reasonable barriers to unauthorised access. Next to that, telecommuters should beselected carefully and trained where needed (Gordon 2000).

3.2.5. Telecommuting in contextIn this chapter, telecommuting has been considered in relation to general societalchanges. Structural, cultural and technological changes, as well as changes on an indi-vidual level, enable new ways of working. At the same time, these new practices callfor further development of technological applications and organisational structures.Flexibility is one of the key characteristics of modern society. It is to be found in or-ganisational structures: flexible work patterns, time and space independent; in culturalpatterns: modularisation of the daily life; in individual behaviour: personalised con-sumption patterns; and flexibility is facilitated by technological developments.

Telecommuting is part of all these developments and makes – vice versa – thesedevelopments possible. It became an integrated part of post-modern society. Throughtelecommuting the modern information and communication technology enters the pri-vate space of the home. In this chapter, the micro-context of the home and the house-hold – within which the telecommuter performs his or her paid labour – is left out ofconsideration. That will be the subject of the next chapters.

The theoretical framework of household studies

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4. The theoretical framework ofhousehold studies

Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change), describes changes inmodern and post-modern societies – and in particular changes in the labour market –,constituting the scenery against which telework could evolve. A distinctive feature oftelecommuting – interpreted as home-located telework – is that it takes place in thehome, in the context of a household and amongst household activities. This chaptertakes this context as point of departure, deriving the theoretical concepts from the fieldof home economics or household studies.3

4.1. Home economicsHome economics investigates the phenomena of household and family in an integratedapproach. This means – according to Van Dongen (1993) – that insights from a rangeof other disciplines – economics, sociology, psychology, biology and technology – areroutinely integrated into the articulation of research questions and the reported results.Home economics is not only interdisciplinary, but also an applied, practical study char-acterised by an ongoing interaction between theory, practice and policy. Theoreticalstatements should be empirical verifiable and have practical relevance. If possible, theyshould be applied in strategic plans and recommendations. Home economics does notconfine itself to activities within the home, but also involves the relation of the house-hold with its direct surroundings and the society as a whole. This implies an integrationof micro, meso and macro levels of explanation. Additionally, in an integrated ap-proach the basic assumptions of the researcher are made explicit. This study is basedon a holistic view, in which society is seen as a complex structure and all human labouris interpreted as productive processes.

Although the content of home economics as a discipline is not unambiguous – re-flecting social change over time and the focus of specific universities – there is consid-erable consensus on the objectives of study and the concepts used.

3 A discussion on the name of the field is to be found in Casimir and Lyon 1998.


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Figure 4-1: The Home Economics Model

4.1.1. A modelThe central interests of Home economics are the activities and functions of the house-hold. Home economists investigate how daily care and domestic production are organ-ised and which resources are applied to it. They examine the structures and ideologiesassociated with the activities and functions and which are expressed in the standard of

Derived from Zuidberg (1981) and Goossens en de Vos (1987); English descriptions from Hardon-Baars 1994.

Resources• human resources:

- power- skills- knowledge

• non-human resources:- time- money- space, energy, appli-

ances• social resources

- human relationships

Wellbeing• assessment of

level of care

Level of care• output of house-

hold activities

Household activities• function activity:

- acquirement of resources- domestic production- domestic consumption

• process activity:- decision-making- planning and organisation- execution

• category activity:- food- housing- clothing- care for members and

others

Influences from the environment• environmental resources,

telephone lines, electricityetc.

Household:• smallest social unit with

communal housekeep-ing

Standard of care• objectives,

norms andvalues


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care. The assessment of the activities indicates the degree of wellbeing of the house-hold (Zwart 1994).

The model of Zuidberg summarises these concepts (Zuidberg 1981; Goossens en deVos 1987; Hardon-Baars 1994). In this model household activities are defined as thesatisfaction of material needs and creating conditions for the satisfaction of other, non-material needs in the domains of food, clothing, housing, health, care and leisure.These activities include decision-making, planning and organisation, and execution ofthe care related to the mentioned categories. To carry out these activities both humanand non-human resources are used. Human resources are: strength, skills and knowl-edge; non-human resources are time, money, goods and services.

Household activities take place within a household: the smallest social unit withcommunal household activities. The output of these activities consists of goods andservices produced and is directed at the wellbeing of its members, referred to as levelof care or level of living. This output can be evaluated against the objectives, normsand values of the household and its members, called the standard of care.

As an addition to Zuidberg’s model, Goossens and De Vos (1987) inserted the e f-fect of external factors, like the state of science and technology, political and culturalfactors, and the availability of environmental resources (telephony, electricity etc.).Changes in the environment of the household are most likely to influence both re-sources and standard of care. Indirectly, other parts of the model can be affected. Theapplication of time, labour and money by the household results in goods and services,either supplied by the market, or produced within the home. However, the availabilityof typical appliances and utensils, and of space and energy are often referred to as re-sources of the household, because they can play a role in household production. In theoriginal model the human resources are power (or: strength), skills and knowledge.Human relations – networks of relatives and acquaintances – are not mentioned and,arguably, might be a very important resource. They can be included in the concept ofsocial resources, the networks of human relationships and social institutions, to thedisposal of families.

Thus the model gets the form of figure 4-1. As said before, home economics ischaracterised by its integrated approach, including concepts derived from sociology,economics, psychology, biology and technology. However – without always making aclear-cut division between the various sciences –, in this research the emphasis is onthe sociological aspects of the model: the study of human groups and societies, givingparticular emphasis to the analysis of the industrialised world (Giddens 1997). In thesubsequent sections the different aspects of the model are elaborated, focussing onthose elements that are relevant in this sociological approach. The environment as suchis sufficiently discussed in Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societalchange), and here only gets attention in its relation to other aspects of the model.

4.1.2. Household activitiesThe core of the home economics model is formed by household activities. These aredivided into three types of activities: function, process and category activities. Functionactivities consist of the acquirement of resources, the domestic production and the do-mestic consumption, concerning the categories food, housing, clothing and care for


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members and others. These functions are subject to the process activities of decision-making, planning and organisation and the actual execution of domestic tasks.

Household productionAs shown in Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change), capitalismseparated the two forms of labour – paid labour on the labour market and unpaid do-mestic labour – in time and space, but also in sex. The first – capitalist production – hasbeen mainly the domain of men. In the second – the reproduction, involving both dailycare and care for a new generation – women are over-represented (Wheelock 1990).

The appearance of the domestic sphere as a private domain can be seen as a Victo-rian middle-class construction. Its privatisation was founded on the exclusion ofwomen from paid work and their idealisation as morally superior ‘angels in the house’(Phizacklea and Wolkowitz 1995). One of the characteristics of this work is its rela-tively invisibility, brought to light in the late 1960s and the 1970s. The indication‘work with no name’ Visser used in 1969 is significant in this respect (Visser 1969; seealso Oakley 1974; Phizacklea and Wolkowitz 1995; Sevenhuijsen 1995). A major con-cern in the ‘domestic debate’ is to make the work visible and re cognised as work.

The work of Tronto (1993) deepened this debate. She distinguishes ‘caring about’,‘taking care of’ and ‘care-giving’, next to ‘receiving care’. The first involves the re c-ognition that care is needed and can relate to groups of people. Caring about is cultur-ally and individual shaped: it is how we think and what we are, but it can also bedescribed on an political level, relating to the way society is caring about under-privileged citizens, for instance. Taking care of involves the recognition that one canact to address the needs of others. A husband is taking care of his family by working athis job. A doctor is taking care of a patient, but the nurses are providing the hands-oncare. This is the third category: caring for, the direct meeting of the need for care. Car-ing for has been mainly the work of slaves, servants, and women in Western history.Caring for is usually conceived as a private concern, supposed to be provided in thehousehold. The largest task of caring, those of tending to children, and caring for theinfirm and elderly, have been almost exclusively relegated to women. The relativelypowerless in society have little to take care of, and if they care about, it is about privateor local concerns. Conversely, men and people of greater privilege care about publicand broader issues. They are also the ones who are taking care of. Thus, Tronto argues,care is gendered, raced and classed. Tronto pleads for the development of an ethic ofcare. This is, however, obstructed by the boundary between private and public sphere,which is a moral boundary (Tronto 1993).

The morality aspect of household production is also discussed by Pennartz and Nie-hof (1999). Family and kinship are embedded in a normative structure, involving fam-ily obligations. The exchange of goods and services within the household is based onreciprocity and morality, and does not follow the rules of the market economy.

Economists conventionally defined the domestic sphere as the opposite of the pub-lic sphere. They saw the public sphere as production, the domestic activities as trouble-free consumption. This vision is problematised by many authors, not only feminists.Becker (1965) was, with his article ‘A theory of the allocation of time’ one of the firstto develop a theory on household production. In his words:


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‘The integration of production and consumption is at odds with the tendency foreconomists to separate them sharply, production occurring in firms andconsumption in households’ (Becker 1965).

Also Galbraith (1975, cited by Wheelock 1990) emphasises the importance of house-hold production, because the commodities bought on the market are not in a consum-able form, and need housework to convert them into regenerated labour power. Thishousework becomes more important, since rising standards of popular consumptionand the disappearance of personal servants create an urgent need for consumption to bemanaged. Unlike Becker, Galbraith recognises the gender-aspects of housework, stat-ing that women have been ‘converted into a crypto-servant class whose role is criticalfor the expansion of consumption in the modern economy’ (Wheelock 1990: 69).

Moser (1993) discusses the fact that the New Home Economics identify the house-hold as a unified unit of consumption and production. Both production and consump-tion often extends beyond the household to include others. Besides that, family labourtime is not like other factors of production:

‘(it cannot) be flexibly allocated based on its comparative costs in market andnon-market activities. Gender as well as age and status are all criticaldeterminants in differentiating the mobilisation and allocation of family labourto different activities’ (Moser 1993: 22).

Household work is definitely work, since work or labour can be defined as human self-care in a socially organised relation of co-operation. An activity has the character ofwork, when it is felt in some way or another as a duty, as something one has to do(Kwant, cited by Visser 1969; see also Van Houcke 1982). However, household workis different from work on the labour market, not only because of its gendered character,but also because it is performed under different conditions. It is private, it is self-defined and the housewife’s work is related to social labour by marriage and mothe r-hood, not by wage (Wheelock 1990). This relation between society and householdactivities is two-sided:

‘On the one hand, structural economic change affects the internal dynamics ofthe household, in terms of the division of labour between men and women, bothin practice and in ideological terms. On the other hand, the way in whichhouseholds behave, and the work strategies men and women adopt affect thefunctioning of the labour market’ (Wheelock 1990: 4).

Decision-makingThe way household production is being performed is subject of decision-making. Deci-sion-making is a main issue within home economics and family studies. Pennartz andNiehof (1999) remark that it is considered to be a crucial process underlying all func-tions of family resource management and essential to the quality of human life. Deci-sion-making serves the prospect of the family’s continued survival within limitedenvironments, and the preservation of the natural environment. Developments in soci-


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ety intensified the need of households’ decision-making (Pennartz and Niehof 1999).The knowledge society – as described in Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context ofsocietal change) – with its rationality, individuality, globalisation and ICT, increasedboth the opportunity and the responsibility to make decisions.

Most decision-making studies are based on a Rational Choice Approach, taking theindividual – with his or her preferences and available resources – as its unit of analysis.Pennartz and Niehof argue that this approach leads to a reductionist view of reality infamily households’ everyday life. They consider, following Ajzen (1991), that the R a-tional Choice Approach can be completed with the concept of ‘normative beliefs’ as anexplanatory variable, and exemplify the conceptual framework with the theme of therecycling behaviour of households. They discuss other approaches, in order to com-plement the picture of the process of resource management. The Strategy Approachstudies decisions as being part of or being embedded in future-oriented strategies ofhouseholds. It takes the household – and not the individual – as its unit of analysis. TheOrganisation Approach brings different patterns of allocation of resources to the fore,the way these practices depend on household characteristics, and also inequalities re-garding earning opportunities among household members. The Power Approach de-tracts from the ideal of the family household as a unit. It introduces ideology as a factorto explain inequality within family households and it conceives decision-making as justone level at which power operates. This approach does not deny the validity of re-source-based explanations of the division of power, but rather it intends to explainexisting inequalities regarding the physical and psychological burdens. The Opportu-nity Structure Approach introduces external forces – comprising the network of socialagencies and institutions – to explain decisions and practices within households. TheLongitudinal Approach includes family life-cycle concepts and the interrelationshipsbetween individual time, family time and historical time. Finally, the Morality Ap-proach analyses care for its moral and political aspects. Gender is shown as an impor-tant element in family morality and care giving (Pennartz and Niehof 1999).

Within the framework of this research, it takes too far to discuss these approachesexhaustively, but elements of them will play a role in the remainder of this study. Im-portant is to see that the study of the decision-making process can be approached frommany different angles and disciplines. The outcome of the process of decision-makingis the allocation of resources within the family and between the family and the outsideworld.

Van Dongen (1993) introduces the concept of internal and external division of la-bour. The internal division is the division of labour between members of the household.The external division of labour concerns the allocation of tasks, labour and resourcesbetween the family and the market, like choices between purchased consumer goodsand services and home production. This fits with the ideas of Felstead and Jewson(2000), who discuss the managing of boundaries within the home, and between thehome and the outside world. Though boundaries of a different kind, they are closelyrelated. Moser (1993) points at a limitation in the New Home Economics approach,that assumes a joint utility function of households:

‘Critical here is the fact that welfare maximization is conditional on the ‘freechoices’ or ‘preferences’ of household members being equally represented in a


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single household utility function. How do the single family welfare functionscope with the fact that within households individuals are perceived to make freeand voluntary economic choices?’ (Moser 1993: 22)

The allocation of labour within the household has ideological, cultural and economicreasons. Intra-household decision-making, management and distribution arrangementsvary depending on the household form and nature of the ‘conjugal contract’ (Moser1993). These ‘contracts’ or ‘understandings’ can change when circumstances change.Wheelock (1990), for instance, found a correlation between the hours of paid labour ofthe female partner in a household and the amount of domestic labour done by her un-employed husband. In her study, unemployed men in families with an employed wifetook up more household chores than expected, when the wife was not at home at cru-cial moments, such as dinner time or children’s bedtime (Wheelock 1990).

Next to individual preferences of members of the household and power relation-ships within the household – which will be discussed further in section 4.1.4 –, theorganisation of everyday life is also determined by other elements, mentioned in themodel: the composition of the household and its stage in the family life-course, thenormative context (standard of care) and the availability of resources, together withenvironmental factors as structure, culture and the state of science and technology.Felstead and Jewson (2000) suggest that two allocation processes are central to theordering and lived experience of household life: the domestic division of labour, andthe management and control of household finances. This study focuses on the divisionof labour.

Category activitiesHousehold production is directed to the categories: food, housing, clothing and care formembers and others. The first three are often called the household activities in the nar-row sense. They comprise preparing meals, setting and clearing the table, doing thedishes; dusting, vacuum cleaning, cleaning windows and doors, floors, toilets, bath-rooms; waxing furniture and floors; making beds; chores around the house; doing thelaundry, ironing, clearing away the laundry; mending clothes, polishing shoes; organ-ising the work; shopping, transportation for household activities. Personal care andcaring for members of the household consist of sleeping, eating and other personalcare; care for children and others (De Hart 1995).

Wheelock (1990) identified regular and occasional tasks, skilled and unskilledtasks, major and minor tasks and tasks that are gender neutral or gender segregated.She made a classification of activities that are more gendered than others:

‘Amongst the major, regular, skilled tasks, there was a noticeable amount ofsharing making the main meal, but very few men always or mostly undertookthis. Washing and ironing both showed a strong gender differentiation, andwere overwhelmingly women’s tasks. Amongst the semi-skilled regular tasks,hoovering was gender neutral. However, ‘bottoming4’ was an almost exclusivelyfemale activity. (..) Amongst the tasks which had a strong responsibility or

4 'Bottoming' is a local term, used in North East England, which means pulling the furni-

ture out and giving a thorough vacuum (Wheelock 1990: 65).


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managerial element in them, both planning meals and checking what wasneeded in the way of shopping were strongly women’s work’ (Wheelock 1990:105-106).

On the basis of her analysis, Wheelock established a quantitative benchmark for thegender-differentiation of tasks. Three major tasks – the main meal, washing and iron-ing – were predominantly done by the wife, whilst two tasks – vacuum cleaning andwashing-up – are either shared or done by the husband. Deviations of this modal posi-tion grade the extent of gender-differentiation in the household.

4.1.3. The householdHousehold activities are performed in the context of households. A household is thesmallest social unit with a communal householding, sharing one residence, with anown facility for domestic care, i.e. a facility for food and other essential necessities oflife (Hardon-Baars 1994; Zwart 1994). Pennartz and Niehof (1999) discuss the imper-fection of this definition. Sharing a dwelling is not necessarily sharing resources andexpenses. Extended families may share a compound or even a house, but do not neces-sarily share a kitchen. The household itself may contain non-related persons more orless on a temporary basis, such as colleagues, friends or lodgers. Besides that, membersof the household may leave the dwelling temporarily for seasonal labour migration orstudy. Many reproductive functions may be taken over by wider networks of kin,friends, or neighbours:

‘In short, the concept of ‘household’ is broader than just ‘a group of individualsliving together and sharing meals’. Boundaries around households are fluidrather than stable’ (Pennartz and Niehof 1999: 3).

Without giving a clear-cut definition Zwart (1994) lists four main aspects of the house-hold concept: the collective residence; the collective daily care; the nature of the mu-tual relationships, marriage and kinship; the identification with the group.

For a long time it has been implicitly assumed that family and household coincide,and that both could be described with the above-mentioned four characteristics (Moser1993). During the last twenty years, this became increasingly questionable. Zwart givesthe example of the student, who is emotionally and economically still part of his or herfamily of orientation but who shares separate collective housing and daily care withother students, or with a landlord’s family. In this case it is difficult to determine thehousehold of which the student is part. Hareven (1982), in discussion of the differencebetween household and family, suggests that the family household is not static. It isalso the place where young people return to in times of emergency, or where old peopleare cared for. Pennartz and Niehof (1999) also note that the equation of household andfamily is a little outdated. Family has a biological connotation and is based on allianceand kinship; household refers to household activities. Pennartz and Niehof distinguishfamily-households and non-family households. A family-household comprises of atleast two persons, related to each other by either marriage – or an equivalent partner-


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ship – or by birth or adoption. A non-family household comprises either a householderwho lives alone or one who is not related to anyone residing in the household.

Zwart pleads for the focus of the household concept to be that of executing collec-tive housekeeping. Pennartz and Niehof take the same direction, when they complywith the definition of Wallerstein and Smith:

‘A household is a social unit that effectively over long periods of time enablesindividuals, of varying ages and of both sexes, to pool income coming frommultiple sources in order to ensure their individual and collective reproductionand wellbeing’ (Pennartz and Niehof 1999: 3).

This does not, however, totally resolve the demarcation problem, because daily care orreproductive activities are not a clearly defined set of activities. The definition alsoignores the fact that individuals can be regarded as participants in the political and theeconomic system on one hand, and are at the same time part of the family household,fulfilling its productive and reproductive functions. Family households are not onlyinfluenced by society, but are active agents that exert a certain influence on society aswell. Family households are able to perform changes within broad structural con-straints, they are relatively autonomous vis-à-vis macro-structural processes, and theyact as mediating agencies between the individual and society (Pennartz and Niehof1999). Laslett (1972) describes the family as the final unit of society, as the citadel ofits values, both collective and individual. In modern societies, characterised by thevalues of individualism, the family is a domestic group, sharing a common house andfacilities. The family is defined in terms of activities (Harris 1990).

Important characteristics of the household are: its composition (number of house-hold members), the age of the family members and the stage of life cycle or life coursethe family finds itself in. It is obvious that a bigger family brings about more householdwork. Families with smaller children have to devote more attention to childcare.Younger couples display different behaviour from older ones with respect to householdchores, childcare and career ambitions (Van der Lippe 1993; De Hart 1995).

For the purpose of this research, it is important to distinguish the employmentsituation of members of the household: the job they have and the amount of hours theyspend on this job. In the course of this study – in particular in the questionnaire for thesurvey (see Chapter 6, Methodological aspects) – employment situation is a separatechapter and not an attribute of the household.

The household attributes cannot be detached from the social environment. Societalchange is reflected in the composition of households, for instance the age of cohabita-tion and marriage, age of child birth, etceteras. Many sociologists regard industrialisa-tion and urbanisation as the main perpetrators of the disruption of traditional familypatterns, replacing the three-generational extended family by the nuclear family (Hare-ven 1982). Next to that, in the United States, pioneer conditions, the rise of the publicschool and the extension of democratic principles accelerated its development (Laslett1972). Although a causal relation can be disputed, many claim a ‘fit’ between the n u-clear family and the requirements of industrial society:


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‘Because the occupational system is based on achievement rather thanascription, the detachment from rigid rules of extended kin renders individualsmore mobile and therefore more adaptable to the labor demands of modernindustry’ (Hareven 1982: 1).

However, Hareven considers the existence of a three-generational extended family inthe pre-industrial past a myth of ‘Western nostalgia’. The nuclear household seems tobe the dominant form of family organisation in Western society for at least the past twocenturies. Despite that, the importance of kin relations as a resource should not be un-derestimated (Hareven 1982). Laslett (1972) notes that historians and sociologists leftsuppositions about the size and complexity of households in the past often undisturbed.According to him, those scholars describe the three chief historical stages in the evolu-tion of the family – the large patriarchal family of ancient society; the small patriarchalfamily which had its origins in the medieval period; and the modern democratic familywhich to a great extent is a product of the economic and social trends accompanyingand following the industrial revolution – without actual figures, nor references tosources which might contain them.

Recent developments, like the increased level of education amongst women andtheir entry in the labour market, have their effects on the household structure. De-creasing housing shortage, increasing geographical mobility, mechanisation of thehousehold and the attachment to personal autonomy and privacy gave an importantstimulation to the so-called family individualisation and a spectacular growth of thenumber of singles (De Hart 1995).

The form of family organisation is related to its life cycle. Felstead and Jewson(2000) determine the stage of the life-cycle as one of the forces that give rise to varia-tions in the way households manage the boundaries between paid and unpaid labour.Other forces are the labour market, the nature of activities and tasks, beliefs and values,which will be discussed in other sections. Pennartz and Niehof (1999) write about life-cycle:

‘The life-cycle concept presupposes the existence of an unwritten blueprint ofthe temporal patterning of the life of an individual, in which the various stages,their sequence and duration, and the transitions from one stage to another aregiven. It is normative in character and provides society with a certain measureof predictability of, and social control over, the individual life course’ (Pennartzand Niehof 1999: 158).

Forsebäck (1995) describes this ‘blueprint’ as a number of mental development phases,which are characterised by a different extent of group dependency. People in their earlyteens leave the ‘biological group’, the circle of family, to enter the unorganised group.People in their late twenties, after having finished studying, enter the organised group;it is work and family that dominate everyday life. When in their early forties, they enterthe ‘symbolic group’, where an informal organisation increasingly replaces the formalorder and where individual networks gradually form the foundation of identity andmental security. Around 55 years of age people enter the solitary phase, where the


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individual is identified by his or her own name, rather than by organisational or institu-tional labels (Forsebäck 1995).

Because the life-cycle approach has the above-described normative and standard-ised character, Pennartz and Niehof (1999) suggest a life-course approach, which em-phasises human agency. Central concepts in the study of life course dynamics aretrajectories and transitions. Transitions from one stage to another are embedded intrajectories, and each trajectory is marked by a sequence of transitions. A life coursecan be described as the way in which an individual progresses through various stagesin life, and through various careers, without the normative connotations often associ-ated with the concept of life cycle. The framework allows for more variability than thelife-cycle approach.

A crucial question in both a life-cycle and a life-course approach is how peoplemove through their lives fulfilling different roles sequentially or simultaneously andhow individuals synchronise their activities with those of other family members and inresponse to historical conditions (Hareven 1982). The answer to this question asks for alongitudinal approach, which is beyond the scope of this research. Stage in the lifecourse is taken into account as an attribute of the household, and is as such a deter-mining factor in the extent and the allocation of household labour. According to Hare-ven, a life-cycle approach converges on the issue of timing. More about time is to befound in section 4.1.5.

4.1.4. Standard of careThe allocation of resources within the household, is – as described in section 4.1.2 – toa high degree dependent on the attitudes and opinions of members of the household,the normative context. This is influenced by norms and values of society. Opinionsconcerning the way the housekeeping should be performed, norms and values about thequality of daily care, and about the division of tasks among the members of the house-hold, differ with time and social change. Developments discussed in chapter 3 (Tele-commuting in the context of societal change) – like modularisation, individualisation,rationalisation and egalitarianism – are reflected within the normative beliefs of mod-ern households. Various studies in the field of home economics (Van der Lippe 1993;Baanders 1998) prove that the normative context of a household exerts crucial influ-ence on decisions within it. Pennartz and Niehof (1999) argue that the domestic ar-rangements have a certain moral content. They see the moral properties of familyhousehold organisation as arising out of the weighing of interests, rights and responsi-bilities of individual members as against those of the group, or vice versa, on the basisof a certain normative consensus.

This normative consensus is seldom a conscious, intentional feature of householdbehaviour. Felstead and Jewson (2000) state that households incorporate values andassumptions, derived from practices, beliefs and values that are habitual or taken-for-granted. They describe these as household understandings. These are based upondeeply held assumptions about what is perceived to be fundamental, commonly re-garded as ‘second nature’, normal, appropriate and decent, and they are constructedaround personal ties of sexual partnership, marriage and parenting. Household under-standings are not formally stated – as in a contract – but are expressed symbolically,


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implicitly and intuitively. Komter (cited by Niehof 1994) calls this the power of casu-alness. Overt statements of the principles of household understandings are relativelyrare and are usually confined to exceptional moments of conflict, celebration or ‘ritesof passage’ (Felstead and Jewson 2000).

This section focuses on two interrelated dimensions of the normative context. Thefirst dimension is the attitude towards paid and unpaid labour. The second dimension isthe attitude towards division of labour among members of the family, in particularbetween men and women (Van der Lippe 1993; Droogleever Fortuijn 1993; Van Don-gen 1993).

Attitudes towards paid and unpaid labourThroughout history thoughts about labour are ambiguous. As pointed out in Chapter 3(Telecommuting in the context of societal change), in industrial society the term ‘work’obtained significance as paid labour, either in the employ of a capitalist employer, or asa self-employed producing goods or services. On the one hand, this paid labour is re-garded as a joy of life and on the other as a symbol of difficult, ‘laborious’ existence.Mok (1990) discerns people with a high work ethos, who assign a positive connotationto labour, and people with a low work ethos, for whom working for a living is a neces-sary evil.

Droogleever Fortuijn does not speak of high or low ethos. She introduces the con-cept of self-sufficiency, which indicates to what extent a household is career-orientedor family-oriented: do they purchase as many goods and services on the market as pos-sible and spend most of their time on paid labour, or do they emphasise self-productionand spend as little time to paid labour as possible. She defines the careerists as house-holds in which household activities and childcare are arranged around the paid labourof both partners. Familistic households focus on self-sufficiency and arrange the paidlabour around household activities and childcare (Droogleever Fortuijn 1993). Thenthere are households, that mainly realise their domestic needs by the acquirement ofgoods and services on the market. We might call them the ‘monetarians’: tradingmoney for household tasks (De Hoog en Van Ophem 1995).

In a similar attempt to develop a household classification, Qvortrup (1998) discernscareer-oriented households: the ‘ones who live to work’ , and ‘wage earners’ : the oneswho work to live. He adds a third group: the self-employed. He argues that all threecategories can be defined by the way work and leisure time are related. The family-oriented wage earners place leisure time above work, career-oriented households prizework above leisure time, whereas self-employed people are very reluctant to draw aline between working hours and leisure time. They cherish other values, such as run-ning their own farm or firm, and they do not experience any significant conflict be-tween family life and working life (Qvortrup 1998). According to Kraan en Dhondt(2001), researchers of the Dutch research institute TNO, telecommuters resemble theself-employed more than conventional employees. They work long days and workoften in the evenings and in weekends, partly because they are evaluated on measurablegoals and are more often confronted with narrow deadlines (Algemeen Dagblad 21February 2001; Kraan en Dhondt 2001). According to these researchers, telecommutersmiss the opportunity to compare their situation with that of their colleagues. As a re-sult, and against accepted opinions, they work harder and they spend all the time saved


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on commuting, on paid labour. Because of these long hours, they have – more than theaverage employee – the difficulty of combining paid work and private life. Stress andRSI (Repetitive Strain Injuries) lay in wait. Concentration problems and even insomniawould be the consequence. This situation was explained in terms of a constant sense ofguilt: during the paid work household chores would haunt the home workers.

Wheelock (1990) cites studies, for instance Wajcman (1983) and Evans (1984), thatfocus on several aspects of women’s relation to domestic work and paid work. Oneclassification that can be made is a division into women with a positive, and womenwith a negative attitude towards household work. Attitudes can either change over thelife course, or they do not. Evans concludes that there are very close links betweenwomen’s attitudes to domestic labour, their domestic practices and their activity in thepaid labour market (Wheelock 1990).

A different way to describe people’s relation to (paid) work comes from Lise V o-gel. She distinguishes time-oriented and task-oriented labour. The pre-capitalist pro-duction of goods and services by self-employment is typically task-oriented labour.Time-oriented labour is the dominant form in capitalism, but career-oriented peopleoften experience their labour as task-oriented, even when they formally work for aspecified amount of hours. It is clear that the wage earners are mainly trading time formoney (Vogel 1987, cited by Kloek 1989).

Kloek (1989) applies Vogel’s view on the division of paid and unpaid labour. Thework of the breadwinner is paid and his (rarely her) work is restricted in time; thehousekeeping of the housewife is unpaid and unlimited in duration. Domestic labourcan be seen as a remnant of the pre-capitalist, task-oriented family, in which all workwas part of family life. In traditional families (i.e. families with a traditional division oflabour), domestic time hardly is an issue: the housewife and mother is available 24hours a day, 365 days a year. Tasks have to be performed, but are not measured interms of time or costs. Since more mothers work outside the home, linear time be-comes more and more important in everyday life. So, although the private sphere is inessence task-oriented, time becomes ever more important, mainly by the relation be-tween work and home, but also because advertisements and media impose an increas-ing consciousness of time upon us (Lyon and Colquhoun 1998).

Figure 4-2 summarises the two angles, from which the attitudes towards paid andunpaid labour can be described. The upper part represents a task-oriented attitude; thelower part a time-oriented one. Household labour is represented on the left, paid labouron the right. Family-oriented households have a task-oriented attitude towards domes-tic labour. They can be found in the upper left quarter of the diagram. These might be(but not necessarily are) the same households, that have a time-oriented attitude con-cerning paid labour: the wage earners, the ones who trade time for money on the labourmarket. Families with a time-oriented attitude concerning domestic labour are themonetarians: the ones who buy consumption goods and services on the market. Inmany cases this goes with a careerist attitude towards paid work.


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Figure 4-2: Task or time-oriented versus family or career-oriented.

The attitude towards career and family is gender biased. Since women are still in ma-jority the first responsible for household and childcare, it is plausible that they have amore family-oriented attitude, whereas men have more often a career-oriented attitude.And although women increasingly recognise the need to seek and retain full-time em-ployment careers, they still have a another perspective than men. Women are satisfiedwith adverse terms and conditions, because their primary commitment is to the domes-tic sphere (Phizacklea and Wolkowitz 1995). This brings us to the second dimension:the attitude towards the division of labour within the household.

Attitudes towards division of labourThe way domestic labour is actually being performed is dependent on many factors,such as the available resources (section 4.1.5) and the process of decision-making,planning, and organisation (section 4.1.2). Opinions on quality also play a role, butmost crucial are attitudes towards the way the labour should be divided between mem-bers of the household, in particular between men and women. Times are changingslowly, and Oakley’s observation made in 1974 is still not totally ou tdated:

‘Despite a reduction of gender differences in the occupational world in recentyears, one occupational role remains entirely feminine: the role of housewife.No law bans men from this occupation, but the weight of economic, social andpsychological pressures is against their entry into it. The equation of femalenesswith housewifery is basic to the structure of modern society, and to the ideologyof gender roles which pervades it’ (Oakley 1974: 29).

In the literature, many explanatory models can be found to explain the gender divisionof labour, based on different types of theories and disciplines. The most importantsources are: historical materialism and other economical theories, biological explana-tions, the role of technology, theories of power, role theories, theories on ideology and

TASK-ORIENTED

Wage earners

Careerists

Self-employed

HOUSEHOLD/FAMILY-ORIENTED

LABOUR MARKET/CAREER-ORIENTED

Familists

Monetarians

TIME-ORIENTED


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socialisation (Daru 1993; Shelton & John 1996). All of these theoretical concepts havetheir own strength and shortcomings and an element of truth in it. One theory is neversufficient to understand the whole picture. Many do not sufficiently explain differencesbetween men and women in terms of the division of labour. Social circumstances areunder- or overestimated. For instance, economic theories interpret the division of la-bour between partners as the result of negotiations, in which the optimal fulfilment ofneeds and wants is the point of departure. Others argue that social desirability steerschoices, combined with possibilities under specific circumstances. The way women aresocialised determines to a large extent how they deal with their role as a mother andhousewife (Chodorow 1978). There are not only many different ways to explain differ-ences, there are also many different ways to address them. This will be elaborated insection 4.1.7.

In individual households, the combination of different motives will be the case.Economic motives will play a role, in most cases there is a certain balance of power,sometimes acquired by conflict; people behave according to expectations of their envi-ronment; but at the same time, they make their own choices and determine what theywant, regardless their circumstances or background. People develop an ideology, partlyfrom experiences in their youth – sometimes following the norms and values of theirparents, sometimes reacting against them – partly related to the possibilities they have,and to prevailing norms and values in the surrounding society (Van der Lippe 1993).These norms and values are changing (Terreehorst 1994; Van der Maas en Haket 1995;Te Kloeze et al. 1996), but they are still different for men and women. Wheelock(1990) emphasises that women with families combine two jobs. Whilst the wife’s e m-ployment career stops and starts, the husband’s is continuous, and this asymmetry r e-flects the distribution of roles within the family and the gender division of labour.Gunter (1994) couples this double task with her attitude:

‘Evidence suggests that the more traditional a role a woman adopts the morelikely it is that she will be saddled with two jobs – waged work and unwagedhousework’ (Gunter 1994: 445).

Others (Moser 1993; Hochschild and Machung 1989) do not speak of a double role, butof a triple role of women:

‘Indeed, women more often juggle three spheres – job, children, and housework– while most men juggle two – job and children. For women, two activitiescompete with children, not just one’ (Hochschild and Machung 1989: 9).

Moser (1993) combines housework and children to one role: the reproductive work, thechildbearing and rearing responsibilities, required to guarantee the maintenance of thelabour force. The second role is the productive work, often to provide a second income.She adds a third role: the community managing work, including the provision of itemsof collective consumption, undertaken in the local community both in urban and ruralcontexts.

Hochschild found three types of ideology of marital roles: traditional, transitionaland egalitarian. A woman’s gender ideology determines what sphere she wants to


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identify with (home or work) and how much power in the marriage she wants to have(less, more, or the same amount as her husband). Even though she works, the puretraditional woman wants to identify with her activities at home (as a wife, a mother, aneighbourhood mom), wants her husband to base his at work and wants less powerthan he. The traditional man wants the same. The pure egalitarian woman, as the typeemerges here, wants to identify with the same spheres her husband does, and to have anequal amount of power in the marriage (Hochschild and Machung 1989).

Te Kloeze and others distinguish modern-western families and post-modern fami-lies, and families in transition from one type to the other. Modern-western is the type offamily in which the man is the breadwinner and the woman takes care of householdand children, while the relations between men and women are based on respect andaffection. A post-modern ideology distinguishes more egalitarian opinions, which re-sults in a more symmetrical division of labour (Te Kloeze et al. 1996). Nevertheless,Oakley’s words are still valid, and supported by others, for instance Wheelock (1990),Hochschild and Machung (1989), and Van der Lippe (1993):

‘Modern marriage may be characterised by an equality of status and ‘mutuality’between husband and wife, but inequality on the domestic level is notautomatically banished’ (Oakley 1975).

Felstead and Jewson (2000) discern egalitarian and hierarchical households. Egalitarianhouseholds commonly seek views of all members and involve them in reaching a con-sensus. This often entails processes and techniques of negotiation and compromise. Inhierarchical households decisions are made by some members and received by others(Felstead and Jewson 2000).

Droogleever Fortuijn (1993) classifies households according to their family- or ca-reer-orientation on one hand, and to their symmetry or asymmetry on the other. Thisclassification leads to a description of four ‘ideal types’ of households: the ‘careerist-symmetrical families’; the ‘careerist-asymmetrical families’; the ‘familist-symmetricalfamilies’; and the ‘familist-asymmetrical families’. These ideal types are – as Gassonand Errington (1994) describe it – ‘a hypothetical construct, conceptually helpful butnot necessarily exactly corresponding with empirical reality’. Droogleever Fortuijnremarks that reality shows more multiformity than the four types of households shedescribes, and one household does not necessarily belong to one category over a longerspan of time. She found too that her respondents – dual-income households – wereneither pronouncedly family-oriented, nor pronouncedly career-oriented.

Attitudes – though very important – are but one explanatory aspect of householddecisions and activities, next to household composition and family life course. Theavailable resources are as important as that. Those are subject of section 4.1.5.

4.1.5. ResourcesA central household activity is the allocation of resources. Households have resourcesavailable in terms of non-human resources such as time, money, goods and services(technical devices, software, infrastructure facilities, space) as well as human and so-cial capital. Human capital relates to knowledge, skills and motivation. Social capital


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can be defined as a network of human relationships. In the following subsections theseresources are discussed.

TimeIt is disputable whether time is a resource or a dimension of other resources. Engberg(1990, cited by Niehof and Price 2001) notes that time is neither human, nor material,but all activities have a time dimension. Time can be interpreted as a physical quantity,but it is also a social construction. De Hart calls time a basic dimension of individualand social reality. The rhythms of individual lives constitute the rhythm of the collec-tive life, which in turn rules and comprises individual lives. Different societies usedifferent time systems, with a diverging duration of a week, dependent on the rhythmof local markets and regional economic situation. The current time system relates to thesocial structure and mirrors social changes (De Hart 1995).

Hareven (1982) discerns three types of time: individual time, family time and his-torical time. Family time designates the timing of life-course events as marriage, thebirth of a child, a young adult’s leaving from the home, and the transition of individ u-als into different family roles. ‘Individual time’ and family time are closely synchr o-nised, because most individual life transitions are interrelated with collective familytransitions. Family time and individual time are both affected by historical time, theoverall social, economic, institutional and cultural changes in the larger society. Hare-ven sees industrial time as an aspect of historical time. It encompasses the industrialculture governing behaviour and relations in the workplace and industrial communities:

‘An understanding of the synchronization of these different levels of timing isessential to the investigation of the relationship between discrete lives and thelarger process of social change’ (Hareven 1982: 6-7).

Historical time is part of the environment, influencing households and housekeeping.Family time is reflected in the family life-course, which is an attribute of the household(see section 4.1.3). Individual time can be regarded as a resource. It is time that some-one has to his or her disposal; but time is also a matter of priority, that is how muchtime people want to spend on something. Available time seems to be elastic. Busypeople seem to have more time than people who have little to do. In this respect VanOphem (1994) remarks that, for instance, volunteers in community activities moreoften than not have a full-time job. The amount of time needed for domestic labour isrelated to standards of quality and available non-human resources, but also to knowl-edge, skills, and organisational talent. A skilled person needs less time to perform atask than someone who is not skilled nor experienced. Furthermore, time has the samecharacteristics as perishable goods: if someone does not make use of a certain point oftime, it is gone and not anymore at one’s disposal (Broekman 1983). Gender plays animportant role in time allocation: men and women are supposed to spend their time ondifferent activities (Moser 1993; Niehof and Price 2001).

The amount of time available for household activities, is to a large extent influencedby the paid job people have (Terreehorst 1994; Spittje 1995). Becker (1965) remarksthat in most countries the average work week declined to less than fifty hours perweek, which means a third of the total time available. He continues:


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‘Consequently the allocation and efficiency of non-working time may now bemore important to economic welfare than that of working time; yet the attentionpaid by economists to the latter dwarfs any paid to the former’ (Becker 1965).

According to traditional economic theory, households maximise utility, subject to theresource constraint: they purchase goods of a certain price on the market, using incomeand other earnings. Becker assumes that households combine these market goods withnon-working time, to produce more basic commodities that enter their utility functions,thus adding time constraints to the goods and income constraints.

Pred (1981) introduces the term ‘coupling constraints’ , when describing the lives ofthe wives of industrial wage earners. Their daily practices are hemmed in not only bythe reduction of family time resources, but also by the constraints dictated by the fixedoperating hours of schools. Free time projects outside the home are subject to strictsynchronisation requirements and time discipline (Pred 1981). Free time or leisure timeis often defined as time not needed for obligations in respect of paid labour and caringactivities (Te Kloeze et al. 1996). Time constraints seem to be of growing importance.According to Lyon and Colquhoun (1998), modern societies are obsessed with themastery of time:

‘The need to co-ordinate activities in time, and accomplish tasks with evergreater speed, has permeated virtually all aspects of everyday life’ (Lyon andColquhoun 1998).

Lyon and Colquhoun put forward many examples of the importance of time in theprivate sphere, and of time and speed as a selling argument.

‘...Recent moves towards a 24 hour society are as much an expression of ourinability to wait for traditional opening hours as they are a measure of ourtechnical and commercial sophistication’ (Lyon and Colquhoun 1998).

They also describe the paradox: whereas speed and time become a dominant factor ineveryday life, powerful technologies allow for the manipulation of time. Video record-ers, microwave ovens, word processors, answering machines save time or enable us towatch programmes and answer telephone calls at a time it suits us.

SpaceHome – as a specialised site of residence, consumption, leisure and family life – is arecent phenomenon, generated by the high levels of structural differentiation typical ofmodern societies (Felstead and Jewson 2000). Phizacklea and Wolkowitz (1995) note:

‘The appearance of the domestic sphere as a private domain, outside the trulysocial space of work and politics, is a Victorian middle-class construction; itsprivatization was founded on the exclusion of women from paid work and theiridealization as morally superior ‘angles in the house’ (Phizacklea andWolkowitz 1995: 14).


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Nowotny (1982) calls the home a social space of special significance, in which privi-leged human interaction in the form of family relations goes on. It is the place in whichrepair takes place, in a diffuse and non-professionalised way. The domestic sphere is anideological category, not simply a physical space. Space can be looked upon as a‘physical distance’ that has to be overcome and as the ‘container’ – the walls, rooms,etceteras – in which work and family life take place (Jackson and Van der Wielen1998). In the latter sense, space can be interpreted as a resource. Since technologicalinnovations and modernisation reshaped temporal, spatial and cultural boundaries,other denotations of space have to be taken into account as well. Kompast and Wagner(1998) call space both a geographical and a cultural category. Time-space structuresare constitutive features of the relation between work and family life (Jackson and Vander Wielen 1998). This relation changed over the past decades. Increasingly, the publicspace is invading the private sphere, as a result of which the household gradually isloosing its autonomy (Nowotny 1982).

According to Pennartz (1981) the home has three basic functions. First a utilitarian,functional one, which supplies basic needs as protection and safety. Second a socialfunction: it is the place where one can meet people, but also withdraw oneself from theoutside world. And third an existential function: it is the place of self-expression, ofidentity. A home represents the psychological necessity of an own territory, whichstands for identity, security, freedom and the want for community and privacy (Bakkerand Bakker-Rabdau 1976). Bakker and Bakker-Rabdau assume that when people be-come older, their habitat grows, but also their want for an own territory. Woolf (1928)considered in A room of one’s own this own territory to be a condition for self-development, emphasising the fact that very few women do have a room of their own.

Kesler (1991) remarks that when people decide to share a home and form a com-munal territory, they paradoxically start a territorial conflict. She defines territory asproperty of material goods, but also non-material property like knowledge, a social roleor the attention of others. The fierceness of this conflict is related to the interest peopleassign to the disputed area. This also could become an issue when people start workingat home, because the telecommuters claim part of the home, that formerly could havebeen used for other activities or by other members of the household.

An interesting concept is addressed by Steward (1999). She notices that many tele-commuting projects assume a malign office and a benign home. Various studies – forinstance Hochschild’s Time bind (1997) – question this assumption. The home canhave an ambiguous connotation. In many telework projects home is assumed to be asafe and secure place, with warm personal ties, where people feel relaxed, free and incontrol over their environment and can express themselves; in short, where they feel athome. However, the home can also be a place of profound insecurity, of stress, abusiverelationships, of tensions, or of gender inequalities (Hochschild 1997; Steward 1999;Felstead and Jewson 2000; Daru 1993).

Other non-human resourcesIn modern society money is an indispensable resource, which most households acquireby paid labour. Only a limited percentage of them earns money by selling products, byallowances or in rare cases by earnings on savings. This money is spent on household


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needs and activities, on education and leisure, on transport and health. Money is notonly indispensable, it is also a source of power. According to Hochschild and Machung(1989) this applies more for men than for women. They think men derive their genderidentity, status and power from the possession of money. For women this connection isless obvious. Money might give them a little more power, but it does not keep themfrom household chores. Although money is important, too much emphasis on moneycould distract from the fact that purchased goods are not yet ready for consumption(see section 4.1.2).

In Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of soicietal change) is clarified howstructural and cultural changes, and the development of science and technology, shapenew goods and services. The availability of particular goods and services is partly amatter of location and historically grown situations. For instance, the availability oftelephone lines, electricity, public transport, the size of houses and job possibilitiesdiffer from country to country, from region to region. The actual acceptance and usageof new products – leading to changes in life-style – crystallises in the interaction witheconomic and cultural developments. Household technology for instance offers thepossibilities to facilitate heavy work in the private domain. This development did nottake place without a change in life itself (Visser 1969). The raised standard of living,the upturn of frozen food industry, the decrease of domestic servants, but also emanci-pative ideas about the position and role of women and the subsequent consequences forhousehold labour: these all favour the mechanisation of the household, making use ofthe possibilities the new technology offered. For a matter of fact, this developmentoriginated the paradoxical combination of an increased flexibility in the private do-main, with at the same time an increased dependence on universal facilities and large-scale infrastructural services (De Hart 1995).

As we have seen in Chapter 2 (Telework: definitions and developments), goods andservices fulfil basic needs, but have a communicative function as well (Douglas andIsherwood 1979). Regarding the artefacts of information and communication technol-ogy – PC’s, Internet accessibility, mobile phones – Van Dijk et al. (2000) conclude thatthe property of these goods and services is mainly dependent on income. However,differences in usage and digital skills are to a large extent related to sex and age. Menand youngsters use ICT more often and are more skilful than women and elderly (vanDijk et al. 2000).

Human and social capitalHuman capital consists of the skills, knowledge and motivation the household has to itsdisposal. Some skills save time, others save money. Motivation, the liking or dislikingof certain chores, plays a role too. These factors obviously affect the way the domesticlabour is carried out and will be divided over the members of the household, but theyalso affect the division between paid and unpaid work, partly because human capitaldetermines the opportunities on the labour market. People who are efficient on thelabour market will not only acquire more money there, but will also spend less time onconsumption activities within the home (Becker 1965).

A special word is needed on information. Information can be regarded as acquiredor applied knowledge. In that sense it is a human resource, but it can also be interpretedas a resource in the environment, including the access to information and the availabil-


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ity of large amounts of information. Information has become the key resource of (post-)modern western societies (see also Chapter 3, Telecommuting in the context of societalchange). Grünsteidl, head of Philips’ Strategic Planning foresaw this already in 1984when he argued:

‘The dominant role of information is something totally new. It is one of thereasons that our classical economic laws don’t count anymore, because theyassume that resources and materials are subject to wear. Information hassomething of a Stradivarius; it can become more valuable as it is used more’(Van den Berg en Casimir 1984).

Also in the context of the household, information has become increasingly important.Consumer goods are more complex, more difficult to judge. There are more choices tomake, more products to compare. Consumers have to choose between different serv-ices, that formerly were monopolised, like telephone providers. Developments in thearea of e-business (tele-banking, tele-shopping, tele-democracy etc.) and telecommuni-cations (GSM, WAP) ask for skills to handle those. And the ever-changing market ofconsumer goods makes that consumers no longer can rely on routine or on skills andknowledge passed on from mother to daughter (Brussé en Casimir 1979). Althoughdaughters do no longer acquire knowledge about housekeeping from their mothers,there still are significant differences in human capital of men and women, reflected ineducation, payment, job opportunities and skills. Gender differences have been thesubject of preceding subsections and will also be elaborated in Chapter 5 (Exploringthe field).

Households do not only have human capital of their members at their disposal, butcan often make use of others, by means of their network of social relations, consistingof kin relations, neighbours, colleagues, friends and acquaintances. These relations canbe defined as social capital. Hareven (1982) emphasises the importance of kinshiprelationships, both for industrial organisation – for instance recruiting new labour forcethrough networks of kinship relations – and for the internal organisation of the family.She cites studies that document the pervasiveness of informal kin relations in contem-porary American society outside the confines of the nuclear family. Those studies de-scribe mutual assistance between married children and their ageing parents, thesurvival of kinship ties in a highly mobile society and the positive role of kin in socialmobility. They emphasise the continuity of inter-generational exchanges of goods andservices between the nuclear family and extended kin over the life course of the familyand its members. Harris (1990) elaborates the meaning of kinship relationships, placingthem opposite economic relationships:

‘Now economic relationships in modern society may be defined asuniversalistic, affectively neutral, achievement-oriented and specific. Incontrast, kin relationships are particularistic, affective, ascribed and have adiffuse significance’ (Harris 1990: 55).

Kinship and economic relations constitute polar opposites, but they inhere in the samesociety at the same time and influence each other. Kinship relationships can, according


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to Harris, constitute a major resource to economic life. These relationships are not re-lated to a status, but are personal; they are unique and unlike friendships, not chosen.Kin relations provide a diffuse social solidarity, on the basis of which relations of ami-ability or hostility can arise, based on a so-called ‘consciousness of kind’. Like Har e-ven, Harris recognises the mutual assistance of kin. He criticises social theorists, whoassume that the functional separation of productive and reproductive institutions alsoimplied the segregation of kin relationships from the economic sphere, thus identifyingkinship with affectivity and ignoring its cognitive properties. Harris notes that the obli-gations of kinship are informal and diffuse, providing the opportunity for negotiationand bargaining. Kinship relationships involve exchange, but not necessarily equivalentexchange; they are concerned with advantage, but the calculation of advantage is notstrived for. They are based upon reciprocity over time made possible by the degree oftrust engendered by their solidary nature. Kinship networks have significance in eco-nomic life, because they establish the social identity and moral character of persons byvirtue of their association with known others. They have practical significance in thatrelatives provide domestic services, information about housing and job opportunities,act as sources of influence, and so on (Harris 1990; Luijkx 2001).

Significance of resourcesResources determine to a high degree the level of care that households can provide.This is obvious for money, goods and services, but it also applies to human skills.Budgeting skills, for example, can prevent financial problems in households with a lowincome. Knowledge of nutrition and skills in food preparation can improve health andwellbeing, regardless of disposable income. The same applies to skills in the field ofdo-it-yourself activities, like home maintenance, home decoration and maintenance ofequipment. And, as said, social networks can prevent households to drop below thepoverty line.

Resources can be a source of power. The one who owns the most resources, or themost crucial resources (money, strength), can apply these to win negotiations. Manyauthors (Daru 1993; Hochschild and Machung 1989; Shelton and John 1996) assumethat the one who possesses the most resources, negotiate him or herself out of the do-mestic labour, presupposing a negative view on this type of work, both for men and forwomen. Chen (1996) however, cites several studies in which no mono-causal connec-tion between power and resources was found and emphasises the importance of thecultural context. Brinkgreve (1992) argues that not only money and strength can beseen as essential resources, but also human relations. For instance: women can derivestatus from the fact that they give birth to and care for children.

4.1.6. Level of care and wellbeingThe level of care of workers is partly determined by the wage bargain between labourand capital, but also by the contribution of domestic labour (Becker 1965; Wheelock1990). In the level of care, the interdependency of the contexts of work and householdbecomes clear. The assessment of the level of care, evaluated against the norms andvalues, beliefs and opinions of members of the household, determines the degree ofwellbeing. Many authors have tried to capture this concept in terms like welfare, pros-


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perity, quality of life, contentment, or even ‘happiness’. Büssing (1998) defines ‘qua l-ity of life’ as the global evaluative term that summarises a person’s reaction to the e x-pectations in his or her life:

‘Quality of life is based on different contexts for human activity, for example,satisfaction with the physical environment, satisfaction with work, and feelingsof economic security and political involvement’ (Büssing 1998: 146).

Each of these contexts can be described with concepts derived from different disci-plines (economics, ecology, sociology, psychology etc.). Büssing focuses on the qual-ity of work on the one hand (productivity gains, cost savings, affective reactions) andon the quality of non-work life on the other. In this respect Büssing discerns: time withthe family, leisure time and money saved. He notes that the quality of non-work life ofthe individual worker can be described with variables like satisfaction, motivation,wellbeing, enhancement of skills, feelings of competence, control and so forth. Thisindividual perspective, however, is restricted. For a valid understanding of the qualityof non-work life the impacts of teleworking should be investigated in their context, i.e.in consideration of family, partnership and non-work living arrangements. Next to that,Büssing emphasises that researchers should investigate how telework affects the inter-relation of work and non-work domains in life. These mutual interdependencies aremost significant for the quality of life in both domains, is his opinion (Büssing 1998).

Wheelock (1990) also points at the interrelation between work and non-work. Ac-cording to her the long-term wellbeing of the household is mainly secured by activitiesin the work domain and has been originally men’s concern, whilst women – because oftheir housekeeping role – were more concerned with immediate needs of everyday life.The two systems – family and work – significantly influence one another through apermeable boundary (Hill et al. 1995). This influence can be defined as spill-over.Spill-over can have a negative and a positive connotation. Positive spill-over occurswhen skills or other resources, acquired for the paid job, can be used within the do-mestic domain. Negative, when work increases stress among family members.

4.1.7. Feed back: strategies to copeWhen the outcome of household activities (level of care) does not correspond withexpectations (standard of care), people apply different strategies to balance level andstandard of care. These strategies represent the way people mobilise, guide, manage,energise and direct their behaviour, emotions and orientation and can have cognitive,affective or behavioural aspects (Pennartz and Niehof 1999). Either the standard isaccommodated to the situation, or the allocation of resources is changed. In some casespeople tackle the resources themselves, trying to earn more money, gain more time oracquire more skills. Or they re-evaluate their situation, rethinking the assessment itself.The most drastic strategy is to change the composition of the household, by moving outor in, by marriage or divorce, or by giving birth to or adopting children.

Strategies are best to be observed when major changes occur, for instance the birthof child, or the unemployment of one of the members of the family. Wheelock (1990)concentrates on the latter, listing substitution processes following a drop in income and


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an increase of time available. Extra self-production activities might be undertaken toreplace the purchase of goods or services, varying from knitting and baking, to exten-sive decorating or repairing the car. Or the family may resort to barter, making use ofthe informal economy by exchanging goods and services with relatives and neighboursor friends. These kind of activities include looking after grandchildren or caring forelderly parents. Other strategies are the replacement of employment in the formaleconomy with employment in the informal sector, and the substitution of more expen-sive goods and services by cheaper ones.

De Hoog and Van Ophem (1995) concentrate on household tasks, when they men-tion three strategies to cope with changes: rearrangement of tasks, avoidance of tasksand monetarisation of tasks. Monetarisation is a form of time-money substitution, ei-ther by outsourcing household tasks to the market (hiring a cleaning person or handy-man), or by buying goods that facilitate the work (a tumble drier, convenience food,takeaway food). When a household chooses for a rearrangement of tasks, gender dif-ferences might be an issue. A symmetrical division of tasks is one of the possibilities,though often difficult to establish because of gender-related knowledge, skills and at-titudes.

The idea that substitution takes place is grounded on the thought that the totalamount of labour within a family will stay approximately the same. According to this‘theory’, households that spend much time on paid labour, would use time savingstrategies to limit the total amount of labour. Households that spend little time to paidlabour, would compensate their lack of income with more household production.Droogleever Fortuijn (1993) found that substitution only partly takes place. Womenspend less time on unpaid labour as they spend more time on paid labour, for men thiscorrelation does not exist. Wheelock (1990) however, found substitution effects formen as well, due to societal changes:

‘The forces of structural economic change mean that it might be increasinglyappropriate to fit men into gendered models. Additionally substantial changes infamily structure, particularly the growing importance of single parent familieswhere women tend to be heads of household, mean that the traditional gendermodel is increasingly inappropriate. There may thus be a need to articulate bothmen’s and women’s domestic and labour market roles by extending a labourprocess perspective to family work strategies’ (Wheelock 1990: 80).

In the framework of this study, strategies that manage the boundaries between workand non-work are most significant. Felstead and Jewson (2000) discern strategieswithin the home and strategies between the home and the outside world. Strategies tomanage the boundaries within the home are either segregation or integration; strategiesto manage the boundaries between the home and the outside world are openness orclosure (Hill et al. 1995; Kompast and Wagner 1998; Mirchandani 1998).

Segregation or segmentation is mostly used to handle the effects of negative spill-over within the home. It is the way of strictly separating the two spheres of work andhome, in time and space, by managerial or technological interventions. The opposite ofsegmentation is integration: the establishment of a fusion of the two activities, gener-ating a synthesis that reshapes and redefines the home (Felstead and Jewson 2000).


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In managing the boundaries between home and the outside world, we can discernclosure and openness. Closure draws a clear and unambiguous line between the privatelife of the home and the demands of employment. Closed families are not very likely toallow telecommuting. Vis-à-vis closure we can discern openness. Openness implies atolerance of ambiguity and the reconciliation of divergent needs.

The use of the word ‘strategy’ does not necessarily imply deliberate planning andpremeditated intent. The described patterns can be the result of conscious planning, orcan emerge in a cumulative and unreflexive way. This depends partly on the type ofstrategy applied, as Felstead and Jewson (2000) note:

‘Strategies based around openness and integration are likely to involve ongoingprocesses of negotiation between household members. Spatial and temporaldivisions within the home and between the home and the wider world are amovable feast, open to reinvention and reconfiguration depending uponcircumstances. This implies discussion, debate and the explicit expression ofmeaning entailed in the use of elaborated linguistic codes. Households thatinstitutionalise strategies of closure and segregation are characterised by muchmore immutable spatial and temporal boundaries. They are more likely tocelebrate ritualised, symbolic and mythical modes of communication,incorporating the implicit or intuitive meanings typical of restricted linguisticcodes’ (Felstead and Jewson 2000: 148).

Hootsmans (1997) adds the concept of compensation, not so much a strategy to man-age boundaries, but a way of tuning work and private life. People can compensatenegative experiences (stress, difficulties, disliking) in one sphere with positive experi-ences in the other. Compensation can work in both directions: negative aspects of thepaid job can be compensated by working at home, in a good atmosphere and/or by thealternation with agreeable activities. Stress at home can be compensated by interestingwork. In both cases, when working at home, it is easy to escape into the other sphere,when compensation is longed for (Hootsmans 1997).

Wheelock (1990) and Hochschild and Machung (1989) give examples of affectivestrategies. They report what they call ‘mental exercises’ to balance the level of care andthe standard of care. For instance, women display gratitude, because their husband isnot as bad as the others. Or they perpetuate the myth that their husband is doing half ofthe homework, while in fact he is only cleaning his own miniature trains. The reversealso exists: men who tell that they are not doing much in the house, while they areactually performing a lot of tasks. In these cases they often emphasise the ‘emergencyfactor’: they are only doing it now, while their wife is in hospital or while they areunemployed. As soon the situation is normalised, they reinstall the traditional division(Wheelock 1990; Hochschild and Machung 1989). The strategy here is not so much tochange the actual behaviour, but to change the value judgement of the actual situation.

4.2. Actual trends in Dutch housekeepingThe accelerated societal changes of the last two decades, to a high degree related to theintroduction of new information and communication technology, has also affected the


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private domain. In this section recent changes in this domain are described, using theconcepts discussed above: household activities, composition of households, standard ofcare, available resources, assessment of wellbeing and strategies applied.

4.2.1. Changing household activitiesDespite reported changes in opinions, and despite an exponential growth in the partici-pation of women on the labour market, Dutch households are not very egalitarian intheir division of domestic tasks. Women still spend, on average, almost three timesmore time on unpaid work than men. In 1990, Dutch women averaged 26.6 hours perweek against 10.4 by men. The time expenditure of young women without childrenwas then only 17.4 hours, but women with a youngest child under five years old, spent47.1 hours per week. Or in percentages: in 1990, 82 percent of the domestic labour and66 percent of childcare is executed by women. They undertake 20 percent of the paidlabour. When both partners have a paid job, the woman’s share in household activitiesis still 77%. In total those households spend less time on household labour. In house-holds with both partners having a job, the woman spends 27 hours (commuting timeincluded) on paid labour, the man 47 hours; 36 percent of the paid labour is done bythe woman (De Hart 1995).

The share of women is slowly decreasing. Full-time housewives with a workingpartner spend in 1998 – according to Keuzenkamp et al. (2000) – over 68 hours perweek on housework and care. They undertake 80 percent of the total time of the house-hold chores. In double-income households the portion women contribute to householdtasks is still 60 percent. In this same research, the amount of hours men spend per weekon housekeeping and care ranges from 17.3 in single earner families to 20.5 in the one-and-a-half-earner households. The most time these men spend on chores around thehouse (around 5 hours per week); in double-income households they take part in thecooking (3.7 hours per week), washing up and cleaning (2.2 respectively 2.9 hours perweek). The total amount of time spent on domestic labour is related to the earner typeof the household. Table 4-1 shows the differences between the different earner types.

Dutch men performed in 1990 more household tasks than their Italian and Austriancounterparts, but less than Belgium, French, German and British men. Between 1990and 1995, the Dutch men increased their contribution. The Netherlands is moving to-wards a more egalitarian division of household and family tasks. Remarkably, even innotorious emancipated countries as Sweden and Denmark, the time men spend on thosetasks is not more than sixty percent of that of women. A truly equal division seems notto be in the offing in the short run (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 2000).


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Table 4-1: Time budgets 1998

Hours per week1 Difference between double-earner and single-earner

householdsSingle-earners

Small one-and-a-half

earners

Big one-and-a-half

earners

Doubleearners

Hours Percent

Labour and education (a) 51.0 64.2 83.4 99.9 48.9 96Housekeeping and care 85.7 81.7 68.4 48.7 –37.0 –43Volunteer work and help 7.7 5.9 4.9 5.3 –2.4 –31Sleeping 103.0 101.0 103.8 102.8 –0.2 0Eating, dressing 15.9 15.7 15.3 14.6 –1.3 –8Leisure 38.9 39.0 37.6 40.3 1.4 4Total time 302.2 307.4 313.2 311.7 –9.5 –3Specification housekeeping and care:Preparing food 12.0 10.5 10.0 9.3 –2.7 –22Washing up 6.9 6.7 6.7 4.8 –2.1 –31Laundry, ironing 8.8 8.2 6.5 5.0 –3.8 –43Cleaning 15.8 15.7 12.0 9.1 –6.7 –42Shopping, services 9.6 8.0 7.9 6.6 –3.0 –31Jobs around the house 9.5 9.6 7.9 7.6 –1.9 –20Caring adults 1.1 0.9 0.6 0.5 –0.6 –52Caring children (b) 6.1 6.0 5.3 4.9 –1.2 –20Picking up, bringing children(b)

3.9 3.5 3.2 1.5 –2.4 –60

Playing with children, reading(b)

18.7 17.2 15.6 13.9 –4.8 –25

a) travel time includedb) only families with children (n = 261 / 83 / 200 / 20).1) Reported actual time budgets and differences in time budgets for domestic and caring tasks

between single earner and double earner families, persons who live together with a partner andof whom at least one of them is between 19 and 49 years old; differentiated according to earnertype, 1998 (in hours per week and in percentages). Source: SCP (TOP’98), cited by Keuzenkampet al. 2000.

As might be expected, the division of unpaid work within households is closely relatedto the division of paid employment. As women’s share of paid employment rises, theirshare of unpaid work falls. This is, however, primarily because the woman will in thosecases devote less time to unpaid work, rather than because the man makes greater ef-forts in this field. When both partners have a higher education, the woman takes a big-ger share of the paid labour. Younger women work on the average more hours in a paidjob and less hours in the household than older women (cited by Van der Lippe 1993).

In households with children, men spend more time on paid labour and women moreon household labour and childcare, especially when the children are young. Men spend,regardless the age of the children, more time on guidance and accompanying children,than on childcare. They do more often pleasant things with children (Van der Lippe1993; Droogleever Fortuijn 1993; De Hart 1995). As Hochschild and Machung (1989)describe in The second shift:


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‘Beyond doing more at home, women also devote proportionately more of theirtime at home to housework and proportionately less of it to childcare. Of all thetime men spend working at home, more of it goes to childcare. That is, workingwives spend relatively more time ‘mothering the house’; husbands spend moretime ‘mothering’ the children. Since most parents prefer to tend to their childrenthan clean the house, men do more of what they’d rather do. More men thanwomen take their children on ‘fun’ outings to the park, the zoo, the movies.Women spend more time on maintenance, feeding and bathing children,enjoyable activities to be sure, but often less leisurely or ‘special’ than going tothe zoo. Men also do fewer of the ‘undesirable’ household chores: fewer menthan women wash toilets and scrub the bathroom’ (Hochschild and Machung1989: 9).

Keuzenkamp et al. (2000) asked respondents – apart from estimating the number ofhours per week that they themselves devote to various activities – to estimate their ownshare and that of their partner in household activities. This revealed that both men andwomen overestimate their own share. It is notable that more men than women considerthe tasks to be equally shared, even if the actual situation shows otherwise.

The facts are changing, though. Men spend more and more time on household la-bour, and are also involved in paid labour for more hours per week. In 1985 men spenttwo hours per week less on obligations – both paid and unpaid – than women. In 1990both sexes spent an equal amount of time on labour, while in 1995 men were up andabout two hours more than women. In 2000, women still performed the majority ofcaring tasks (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 2000).

4.2.2. Changing householdsOf course the division of labour is related to the composition and stage in the lifecourse of the household. The last twenty five years showed dramatic changes in thecomposition of Dutch households. Thirty percent of Dutch households under 60 yearsof age consist of singles. The average seize of households is 2.4. Three-generationhouseholds are in the Netherlands exceptional. Fertility rates decreased until the mid-1980s quicker than in any other European country, and the postponement of the firstbirth went further than elsewhere. In the time until the first child is born, women investin their career. After the birth, they take up – more than in for instance the Scandina-vian countries – part-time jobs in order to combine work with family and childcareduties. It seems that not only a shortage of childcare facilities plays a role here, but alsothe desire to do so (Keuzenkamp et al. 2000; Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 2000).

The stage in the life course of a family – the family time (Hareven 1982) – is partlyrelated to the earner type of households. Keuzenkamp et al. (2000) note, for instance,that an above-average number of single-earner families are at the family formationstage. Next to that, job opportunities are of importance. If small-one-and-a-half earnerhouseholds are compared with all other earners together, it turns out that a dispropor-tionate number of the women have very low status jobs. Men whose wives work alimited number of hours a week are more frequently to be found in sectors lackingarrangements in the field of part-time work, childcare or leave arrangements. The


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demographic statistics do not reveal the importance of kin relationships and the some-times not so strict boundaries of households. It appears, for instance, that grandparentsand other relatives play a role in the care for children, and children – in particulardaughters – care for their parents when they become needy (Keuzenkamp et al. 2000;Luijkx 2001).

Households are nowadays, not only in a demographic sense, in a continuous state ofchange, reacting on changes in the external system and influencing this system as well.As already mentioned in section 4.1.3., Pennartz and Niehof (1999) consider thehousehold as mediating agency between structure and the active, individual subject.This mediating role increases in times of social change. It appears that households areflexible and vary according to time and culture:

‘In order to survive, family households have to search continuously forcompromises, have to coordinate the changing beliefs, ambitions, andbehaviours of its members, and mould them into new forms. (…)Transformations such as waning ideologies or ideological hegemonies have topass family households and the connected informal social networks in order togain support in civil society at large. Family households may keep traditionsalive as well as participate in the undoing of traditions’ (Pennartz and Niehof1999: 214).

Though some may see the household as the last resort – the ‘last sanctuary in a bewil-dering outside world’ (Nowotny 1982) – it is unjustified to regard family householdsjust as bulwarks of tradition (Pennartz and Niehof 1999). Different forms of house-holds, different behaviour, and different arrangements during a family life course, forinstance by working alternately less or more, have come into effect (Keuzenkamp et al.2000).

4.2.3. Changing standard of careTrends discussed in Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change) canbe observed in Dutch society. In its 1998 report the Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureauconsiders individualisation as one of the major characteristics of social dynamics of ourtime. According to the 1998 Sociaal en Cultureel Rapport, modern people are not de-pendent on families, but on ‘infrastructure’. The erosion of kinship networks startedalready in the nineteenth century, but typical for the last twenty-five years is that indi-vidualisation also penetrated the last fort of the traditional society: the family (Sociaalen Cultureel Planbureau 1998). Though this notion can be nuanced – see the remarks insection 4.2.2. – fact is, that individualisation is something that has to be taken intoaccount.

In the 2000 report, the Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau notes that a ‘traditional wayof life’ has a low reputation in the Netherlands. Dutch people support an equal divisionof tasks between men and women. Only 19 percent of the Dutch see the traditionaldivision – in which the man works outside the home and the woman does the house-keeping – as the only correct possibility (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 2000).Autonomy of partners and children, like having own friends and activities, is positively


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evaluated. Motherhood is rejected as the only life fulfilment or social identity. In post-modern families men find family life and leisure time more important than their career(Te Kloeze et al. 1996).

Keuzenkamp et al. (2000) found differences in attitudes towards sharing and com-bining related to earner types. Single earner households are the least oriented towardsthe combination of employment and care and a more equal division of tasks betweenthe partners. They attach greater value to traditional male-female relationships. Thisapplies to both men and women. while the members of the two-income families are themost oriented towards a non-traditional division of tasks. The one-and-a-half earnercategories occupy an intermediate position, with the small-one-and-a-half earners re-sembling the single-earners more closely and the large-one-and-a-half earners movingcloser to the double-earners. If the small-one-and-a-half earners are compared withsingle-earners, only the time expenditures of women differ. ‘Breadwinner’ males ev i-dently do not distinguish themselves from men whose women have a minor part-timejob. Small-scale participation in the labour market is, however, associated with a morepositive attitude towards working and sharing. The male partners of women with alarge part-time job are more positive about equal rights issues (Keuzenkamp et al.2000). Among Dutch youngsters, girls are more often advocates of an equal labourdivision than boys. A majority of the boys would like to leave the household labour totheir partners, while only a quarter of the girls want to do it alone. When they are askedabout children, the differences between girls and boys are small. Boys and girls wouldlike to share education and caring, though still, the boys are more interested in educa-tion than in caring (Keuzenkamp en Oudhof 2000).

4.2.4. Changing resourcesThe available time in the non-work sphere is to a large extent dependent on the timethat is spent in paid jobs. The Netherlands occupies a special position in Europe in thisrespect, because of its high number of part-time jobs. As a result of that, the averagenumber of working hours per week and per year are the lowest in Europe (Sociaal enCultureel Planbureau 2000).

Time is also related to mobility. In post-war Netherlands, and in particular the lasttwenty years, there has been a considerable increase in geographical mobility. In 1993half of the working population lived more than 7.5 kilometre from the employer’s o f-fice. The average commuting distance was 13.4 kilometre, growing to 17.4 in 1999 (DeHart 1995; CBS 2000). Compared to former migration patterns the motives havechanged. In the nineteenth century and shortly after World War II, economic reasonsprevailed. People moved because of employment opportunities. Nowadays, migrationin western societies is mainly prompted by the housing market and housing conditions(Giddens 1997; Van Loo en Van Reijen 1993), enabled by increased radius of actioncreated by car ownership (De Hart 1995). Prices of houses in the urban areas also playa role here. However, increased traffic congestion results in increased commuting time.This is reflected in time budgets of Dutch households: increased working hours are to alarge extent the result of increased commuting time.

The role of the home in daily life changed remarkably. According to the Dutch So-ciaal en Cultureel Planbureau (2000), the house was formerly a place where family


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members came together to spent free time, nowadays it is the operating base of activi-ties outside the home: more women working in paid jobs, more leisure activities per-formed elsewhere, and a more individualised time pattern of the members of thehousehold. Time spent together by household members is decreasing. As a result ofthese developments, the location of the home becomes of increased importance (So-ciaal en Cultureel Planbureau 2000), as does the quality of the house itself. Housesbuilt after 1970 are on the average bigger than before, they are more often single-family dwellings and they offer more comfort and better technical quality (Sociaal enCultureel Planbureau 1998).

The general level of prosperity grew, the average national income increased in fif-teen years with one quarter. At the same time, the gap between wages and social secu-rity benefits also widened. Fixed costs take an increasing part of the budget of low-income households, as a result of which their pattern of spending is restricted. Theincreased prosperity calls for claims that are difficult to honour in an egalitarian soci-ety: spacious houses in agreeable surroundings, technologically advanced medicaltreatments without waiting lists, quality education and congestion-free recreation (So-ciaal en Cultureel Planbureau 1998).

Though girls leave the educational system with a diploma more often than boys,women are still to be found in lower jobs with lower incomes than men. Their share inleading positions and in political decision-making is small (Keuzenkamp en Oudhof2000). Most Dutch people think it is normal for a woman to have a paid job, but it isnot necessary that she has one. The result is that women on average earn less than menand are in fewer cases economically independent. Next to that, women still feel moreresponsible for household tasks, partly because men still expect them to be (Keuzenk-amp et al. 2000).

An informal economy, based on the exchange of services instead of money seemsto grow (Volkskrant, 26 August 2000). Extensive research on poverty in the Nether-lands shows that in particular poor allochtonous households rely to a high extent on theinformal economy offered by supporting networks (Engbersen et al. 2000; Van Bem-mel 2000).

4.2.5. Assessment of changesAccording to the Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (2000) Dutch people regard theirwork as more than a way to earn money. At the same time they value a clear separationof work and private sphere. Married women perceive a dilemma: is it worth to strivefor full-employment if this means a loss in quality regarding family life and less in-volvement in the education of their children? This question is answered by women andmen on an individual basis, often relating their answer to their financial situation andcareer prospects, although socially and political the choice is already made. Since1990, women are obliged to work, if they are able to do so (Sociaal en Cultureel Plan-bureau 2000).

Dutch people seem to be content with labour and the environment, but their opin-ions concerning the educational system, health care and the battle against criminalityhave become more critical. ‘Happiness’ is in the highly developed societies for thegreater part dependent on money. Welfare states guarantee their citizens a minimum


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level of care. They cannot prevent personal unhappiness, but they can create conditionsfor happiness, offering a stepping stone to a better realisation of possibilities and ca-pacities of the individual. The welfare state is changing, moving from a supply to ademand orientation, from general arrangements to specific ones, from all-embracingfacilities to complementary. These changes are also reflected in the endeavours of thelabour unions. Their sustained effort to limit working hours and strictly separate workand private life is almost imperceptibly downed by practices of blurring boundaries,not in the least as a consequence of the application of information and communicationtechnology. Most people gain profit from this development, because it made their workmore appealing and more individual and autonomous. However, there is a price to payin the form of increasing work stress, burnout and chronic fatigue. These pressures areamplified by the advanced monetarisation of life: there is ever more money needed tomaintain a customary level of care and it has become more common to express everyactivity in money (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 2000).

4.2.6. Applied strategiesThe dilemmas Dutch families are confronted with – egalitarian society versus freedomto choose, career ambitions versus family life – ask for strategic solutions. The mostimportant policies enabling the combination of work and care are the possibility to gearworking hours to caring tasks, facilities for childcare and arrangements for parentalleave. Next to that strategies of outsourcing are used. The study of Keuzenkamp et al.(2000) has revealed that earner-types differ from one another – among other things – interms of the strategies they apply to combine work and private life. The double-earners,in particular, contract out half the household activities; they make little use of childcarebecause they do not generally have children. The extension of shopping hours alsoturns out to be a facility from which they particularly benefit. They also make use oftime-saving facilities, such as a dishwasher.

The large-one-and-a-half earners make above-average use of formal childcare andalso often contract out household work – though somewhat less than double-earners.An above-average number of women in this category have saved up leave in order tocare for children and have made use of paid or unpaid parental leave. Notably enough,men in the various earner categories take up the same amount of parental leave, whichis little. Finally, the small-one-and-a-half earners – i.e. the women in this category –have made relatively little use of the ability to adjust their working hours in line withthe school hours of their children. The potential application of the various strategies isin part held back by the lack of appropriate facilities. There remain, for example, toofew day childcare facilities, and after-school care and leave facilities are problematic –especially in a financial sense (Keuzenkamp et al. 2000). More flexible time regimes ofschools, public services and public transport can contribute to a more supple combina-tion of work and care (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 2000).

In the studies discussed here, telecommuting is not or only incidentally mentionedas a potential strategy to balance work and private life. Nor is evaluated what strategiestelecommuters typically apply to balance both spheres. These topics will be subject ofthe following chapters.

Telecommuting and household: exploring the field

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5. Telecommuting and household:exploring the field

5.1. Blurring boundaries: telecommuting and the householdWork and private life may have been separated sectors since industrial revolution, theyhave been influencing each other in a very profound way. Most actions in private lifeare adjusted to working hours, to hours at which schools start, to opening hours ofshops (Terreehorst 1994). When telecommuting comes in sight, the boundaries be-tween work and non-work become really blurred: there are no longer spatial and tem-poral boundaries. Related to characteristics of the worker (gender, education) and thetype of work, the home-based worker will experience more or less intrusion of thework on family life (Fitzgerald and Winter 2001). Home-located production – andtelecommuting in particular – potentially problematises the social relations of thehousehold. Decisions about the division of labour, the allocation of resources, the useof space etc. will have to be reconsidered. Felstead and Jewson (2000) expect a raisedawareness of the significance of home and the private domestic sphere of life. Reach-ing decisions about how to accommodate work and home may force household mem-bers to articulate principles and beliefs about domestic time and space that have notpreviously been expressed explicitly. Ingrained and taken-for-granted habits and prac-tices may thus evolve into conscious decision-making (Felstead and Jewson 2000).

With the growth in numbers of telecommuters and the fact that this way of workingis becoming more common, the limits of it also become more clear. Commenting onprojects of the Commissie Dagindeling, Dirks (2000) warns of 'modern schedules'.Experiments in the United States proved not to be successful, since the labour marketacquires an all-or-nothing attitude. De Rek (2000) also pays attention to the limits offlexibility. She notes that modern employees are flexible, they work at home, take theirchild to the office, have their mobile phone in their pocket, even on holidays, but shewonders when the limits of this flexibility are achieved. The dissolution of boundariesbetween private life and work is not the result of a suddenly dawning deeper insight,but has practical reasons. Paid work is more intrusive to private life than the other wayaround. De Rek gives examples of a troublesome relationship between the two spheres.Her message is a radical one: maybe people are not as flexible as some might think;


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maybe it is not so bad to have a nine-to-five job. Breedveld of the Sociaal en CultureelPlanbureau, cited in de Volkskrant of 29 January 2001, reports that the average work-ing week of a family with two working parents has increased to seven days. In thissame article, Nogueras – advising Dutch families about their program of the day –argues that Dutch people live to work, while Spanish employees go home after work toenjoy their non-work life. Nogueras is no advocate of telecommuting. In her eyes itcauses an undesirable blurring of the boundaries between work and private life.

Changes within the home are related to its surrounding world. Chapter 3 (Teleworkin the context of societal change) was constructed around the paradoxes of societaldevelopment and the interactions of technology, individuality, culture and structure.Relevant characteristics of post-modern society are modularisation, flexibilisation,individualisation and globalisation. These characteristics permeate the four perspec-tives and are very determinative for modern society, but their opposites are in operationas well. Modularisation and flexibility are facing rooted habits and standard packagesof norms and values; individuality coincides with group consciousness; globalisationdevelops simultaneously with an increased attention for the local environment.

Breedveld (2000), for instance, argues that the 24-hour economy has no boundariesand the only belief that exists is the belief in one's own self. However, despite profoundchanges in opinions and culture in the last 25 years, daily time schedules still show ahigh degree of continuity. The Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau asked Dutch personsbetween 18 and 64 years if they undertook daily activities – getting up, starting andending work, eating and going to bed – at the same point of time on two days in a row.Though the proportion of positive answers declined since 1975, in 1995 still more thanhalf of the respondents performed these activities at the same hour on two successivedays. Combined with the fact that, in 1995, 87 percent of all labour is still performedon week days from 9:00 to 17:00, it can be concluded that the majority of the popula-tion still has a routine schedule for the day. The 24-hour economy exists mainly be-cause people shift their domestic activities to evenings and weekends, and not becausemore paid labour is performed at other points of time (Breedveld 2000; Van den Broeken Breedveld 2000).

Individualism is generally regarded as the main characteristic of post-modernity –achievement and curse – but this issue too can be put into perspective. Keuzenkamp etal. (2000) notice a strongly developed family ideology: 'if there are children the familymust be given priority' (Keuzenkamp et al. 2000: 148). Despite the increasing numberof single-person households and a culture of individuality, there are many examples ofdifferent opinions and activities.

As argued in Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change), eco-nomic and cultural developments influence each other. A good match between the twoprevents frictions in the system (Breedveld 2000). Flexibility in working hours andcontracts of employment could not have been implemented without an ideology inwhich change and variation prevail over security and certainty, and routine behaviouris equated with dullness. Structural changes – from an industrial society to a flexibleservice economy – were simplified by simultaneous cultural changes in the direction ofindividualisation. On the other hand, Breedveld observes that not all ideologicalchanges resound in the formal economy. The changing division of labour between menand women hardly lead to new management and working conditions. He suggests two


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ways to accommodate economics and culture. One is to offer services supporting thecombination scenario, like childcare, flexible working hours, telecommuting facilitiesetceteras. The other is to adjust or phase – or at least reconsider – one's aims in life(desired career, ambitions, attention and time for children).

In recent decades the Netherlands – as have other Western-European countries –has switched from a society based on the traditional breadwinner model to one with anincreasing number of two-income families (Breedveld 2000; Van Dongen et al. 2001).The one-and-a-half-earner couples – in which the male partner works full-time and thefemale partner part-time – has become a particularly popular option (Keuzenkamp etal. 2000). The promotion of the combination scenario is an objective of emancipationpolicy in the Netherlands. Next to childcare facilities and flexible work arrangementsas instruments to achieve this goal, the Ministry of Social Affairs provides subsidiesfor projects that facilitate the combination of work and private life. These projects varyfrom experiments with multifunctional use of space in new housing development,childcare facilities and meal service in a rural area, management of flexible workinghours, to pilot activities for senior and non-native citizens. Telecommuting is part ofmany of those projects (Dagindeling 2001; Volkskrant 13 July 2000). The familyhousehold plays an important mediating role between society and individual, in par-ticular in times of social change (Pennartz and Niehof 1999). It appears to be very re-silient, finding new forms, content and structure, when the surrounding society changes(Nowotny 1982). The possibility of living a life of one’s own offers new forms of so v-ereignty, but these can lead to uncertainty and to encroachments from one domain intothe other as well (Breedveld 2000).

The role of technology – and in particular of information and communication tech-nology (ICT) – in the developments described above is significant and paradoxical.Technology freed people from their natural limitations and made them dependent at thesame time. ICT intensified the developments, associating central control with decen-tralisation, facilitating an individualised mass production. As is the case with technol-ogy in general, ICT is simultaneously credited with the potential of its positiveapplications and decried for its equally plausible negative and obstructive effects(Nowotny 1982). Simultaneously, ICT is capable of helping us surpass the paradoxes,because it enables us to gain control over our life. Industrial technology separated thespheres of work and private life, information and communication technology helps usto bridge those spheres again. At the same time, an analogy with Ford's conveyer beltcan be seen here: the assembly line moved the pieces around and kept the people intheir place; likewise ICT keeps the people in their places and moves the data around.ICT helps to expand the scope of unpaid consumer work – like driving, shopping,gathering consumer information, self-service in the household – into the sphere of paidwork, while the underlying organising principles of the paid labour gradually mergeinto the domestic sphere (Nowotny 1982).

In telecommuting all the paradoxes and ambiguities of modern society come to-gether: family and career; private and public sphere; task and time orientation; tradi-tionally male and female activities; centralised, co-operative work patterns versusdecentralised, individualised flexible schemes; time and space independent work ver-sus the reproduction of traditional office hours. Researching these dual pairs of con-cepts as binary opposites, conceals the hierarchy that is incorporated in those dualities


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– one being regarded as more powerful than the other – and does not leave room for themany shades that are possible in between. This dilemma has been the subject of debatewithin gender studies (Scott 1989; Farganis 1989; Sevenhuijsen 1993; Crutzen 2000).The disconnection of the concept of gender from biological sex was initially experi-enced as liberating, because it showed that so-called female characteristics were a re-sult of education and culture, rather than of biological predestination. That gave anopening to change. However, this intellectual strategy appeared to have its limitationsand disadvantages. It forced women to ignore their body and to proclaim rationality asthe norm. Next to that, femininity had a negative connotation and was associated with'traditional role patterns'. The reaction was de-gendering as a strategy, in which equal-ity, in the meaning of sameness, became the norm. But when equality means beingidentical, it is difficult to think about the positive significance of differences and aboutthe question to whom or what one has to be identical. A more fruitful approach showsthat the paradoxes are two sides of a coin, both being a result of the same societal de-velopments, influencing each other in a dialectical process. Equality should not berepresented as the absence of differences, but should acknowledge and incorporate theexistence of differences. Emphasising differences – for instance between men andwomen – should not lead to a propagation of an unbiased multiformity, but lead to thedeconstruction of the antitheses that are enclosed in the paradoxes (Scott 1989; Seven-huijsen 1993). The emphasis on paradoxes in Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in societalcontext) and Chapter 4 (Theoretical framework), can be seen in this perspective.

With these thoughts in mind, the qualitative, exploring phase of the current researchwas devised. This phase consisted of a literature search, interviews and a group discus-sion. The interviews and the group discussion took place in winter and spring of 1996.On the basis of the preliminary outcome of these interviews and discussion, severalsurvey questions were formulated. These were added to a survey that market researchbureau IDC-Benelux organised in the Netherlands in the summer of 1996 (Casimir1996a, 1996b; Vernooij en Casimir 1996). Next to that, expert interviews took place, tocollect background material. It was expected that telecommuting would affect all as-pects of the home economics model – the household activities, the standard of care, theapplied resources, and possibly even characteristics of the household. And vice versa,these aspects will determine the way telecommuting is performed.

The remainder of this chapter describes the way the interviews, the group discus-sion and the IDC-survey were conducted. Subsequently, the results of these exploratoryinvestigations are discussed, following the aspects of the home economics model. Thechapter concludes with a set of refined research questions and the formulation of hy-potheses, on which further research was based.

5.2. Exploratory investigations

5.2.1. Interviews and focus group discussionFrom January through March 1996 eight telecommuters and some of their partnerswere interviewed, and a focus group discussion with another eight was arranged.Fourteen of these respondents were women, mainly because they were recruited via awomen’s magazine. Because children influence the content and amount of hours spent


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on household labour to a high extent, it was the purpose to interview families withchildren. All participants – except one – of the interviews and the group discussionanswered this criterion. The one person without children was single and lived alone.Others lived with a partner of opposite sex, the age of their children varying from zeroto mid twenties. One of them had no children living at home anymore, but took care ofher granddaughter every day.

There was no strict questionnaire for the interviews nor for the group discussion.Both focused on the concepts of the home economics model (see chapter 3): householdactivities – including childcare –; resource management – in particular management oftime and space -; evaluation of the telecommuting situation and strategies to cope.Differences between men and women also were a topic. Aim of both the interviews andthe group discussion was to generate as many arguments, motives and considerationsas possible, related to telework. The interviews were all carried out by the telecommut-ers at home, for several reasons. It would cost them the least time and when talking tothem in their own surroundings, the interviewer would get an impression of the way thetelecommuting space was furnished and equipped. All interviews were carried out in anopen, relaxed atmosphere. All interviewees were very much willing to share their expe-riences.

Focus group discussions – or focused interviews with groups – are already in 1920mentioned as a market research technique. This technique became popular in the 1970sand 80s for instance in the evaluation of health education material and in film and tele-vision reception studies. The term ‘focused’ refers to the fact that some kind of colle c-tive activity is involved. Crucially, focus groups are distinguished from the broadercategory of group interviews by the explicit use of the group interaction as researchdata (Kitzinger 1994). The discussion gains depth by the interaction and makes it morethan just a cost-effective way for interviewing several people at once.

The focus group discussion in this research brought together eight telecommuters ina central place in the Netherlands, easy to access by public transport, and with a carpark in the vicinity as well. To start the discussion all participants were individuallyasked to line up statements containing motives for telecommuting, in order of decreas-ing importance. The nine statements were printed on one sheet of paper. To be able toline them up, it was necessary to tear the paper in parts. This was deliberately done, toease the atmosphere. After this exercise the participants could clarify their choice andexplain their often ambiguous opinions on the subject. Here they could help each otherto specify their opinion. After this a vivid and informal discussion on different aspectsof telecommuting evolved, only occasionally structured by questions or remarks of thefacilitator, to be sure every aspect would be taken into account. According to Kitzinger,anecdotes, jokes and loose word association are important:

‘Such variety of communication is important because people’s knowledge andattitudes are not entirely encapsulated in reasoned responses to directquestions’ (Kitzinger 1994).

That is exactly what happened here: talking about – for instance – dealing with col-leagues, employers, household members, friends and relatives clarified the attitudes ofthe participants towards the subject. The discussion ended with ten propositions. Par-ticipants were asked to vote for or against each proposition by means of a coloured


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card (green for ‘agree’, red for ‘disagree’, and yellow for ‘don’t know’). When som e-one differed from the majority, she or he was asked to clarify. In the evaluation theexchange of experiences proved to be especially valuable for the participants. For thefacilitator both the interviews and the group discussion produced enough material tolay the basis for the next step. The results of both the interviews and the focus groupdiscussion are incorporated in the remainder of this chapter (see also Casimir 1996band 1997d).

5.2.2. IDC-survey and expert interviewsIn the summer of 1996 market research company IDC-Benelux performed a survey oncomputer property and computer use among 1000 Dutch households. In this surveyquestions were inserted about telecommuting. These questions were based upon thefindings in the interviews and the group discussion. In the survey two important dis-tinctions were made. First, there is the difference between those people who work athome and those who do not, the latter group divided into people who want to work athome, and people who do not want to do so. The second distinction is between mainbreadwinners and other income earners in the household. It appeared that there aresignificant differences in motives and wishes between main breadwinners and others.

The first set of questions in the IDC-survey was about the motives to work at home(including time for household and family). The second set was about the perception oftelecommuting and the consequences of it. Here the boundaries between work andleisure time were addressed. The survey was done among 1000 Dutch households. In161 of those the main breadwinner worked at home, at least sometimes.

In addition to the IDC-survey experts in the field of telework were interviewed.These were researchers, representatives of industry, government (both national andEuropean) and labour union. The outcome of these interviews are published – togetherwith results of the survey – in Vernooij and Casimir (1996). Results of the interviews,the IDC-survey and the expert interviews are interwoven in the remainder of thischapter.

5.3. Household activities done by telecommutersThe suggestion that working at home would influence the division of household labourand the content of household tasks is affirmed by the interviews and group discussion,and by the results of the IDC-survey.

Many telecommuters observe an increase in household tasks, being confronted withthem while working at home. Fothergill emphasises that in particular women find itdifficult not to notice the breakfast things piled up in the sink when going into thekitchen to make a cup of coffee. The temptation is to spend time washing them up,rather than ignoring them until the work is completed.

'It may require a lot of discipline on the part of some women to switch off fromtheir 'domestic role' into their work role' (Fothergill 1994: 343).


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All interviewees and participants in the focus group discussion mentioned exampleslike this; 25 percent of the telecommuters in the IDC-survey indicated to perform morehousehold chores when working at home. One reason for this increase is the attitude ofthe teleworker her- of himself, finding it difficult to ignore the housework. Some wentso far that they refrained from paid domestic help, because they were at home anyway5:

‘When you are away thirty hours a week, I think you consider more easy to letsomebody do something in the house, for instance one morning per week. Nowyou just don't do that. Because, well, you are at home anyway.’

Or:

‘We made some good arrangements then, when I started my studies, about thedivision of tasks. In the period that I had no paid work, I (…) did more of thehousework. That is logical. It would not be fair otherwise. But I think that I donow more things than I did then.’

But there is also this remark:

‘I can very well leave things as they are.’

Apart from self-imposed behaviour, the expectations of household members were areason for the increase. Home-located producers are often saddled with smaller or big-ger tasks by their partners or children: ‘If you are still5 at home, you might do …’ Thesetasks varied from walking the dogs, mending clothes, doing some errands or receivingthe plumber, to repairing things in the house or pick up the children from day-care. Asone of the interviewees said:

‘When I started with my job, my husband walked the dogs. He fed them. He didthe dishes. Since I am working at home, that is not the case anymore.’

Planning becomes a more conscious activity among telecommuters. Mirchandani(1998), among others, stresses the fact that telecommuting disrupts conventionalequivalencies between 'work' and location, and instead define 'real work' as activitieswhich can be clearly measured and planned. While they work at home, telecommuterscontinually plan and measure not only the activities that they do as part of their jobs,but also their domestic work and childcare.

5 The Dutch word ‘toch’ is difficult to translate into English. Van Dale’s dictionary

(Martin en Tops 1991) gives nine different meanings and even more words: all thesame, nevertheless, still, yet, anyway, but, even so, nonetheless, rather, actually, really,after all, since. Often the word is used as modal particle, useful in the (oral) communi-cation to soften an imperative or to express anxiety, impatience, or surprise. The Englishuses in those cases often modal verbs instead of particles (Van Maris 2001). Instead of‘If you are at home anyway’ a more appropriate translation could be: ‘ If you happen tobe at home…’


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While it is clear that telecommuting influences the division of labour inside thehome, it can also have a direct or indirect influence on the division between paid andunpaid work whereas it opens job opportunities that were formerly not available or notacceptable. In families with special circumstances like ill or handicapped children, or insurroundings with little opportunities for childcare, working from home sometimesseems to be the only possibility to perform a paid job (see for instance Fothergill1994). In some cases it works the other way around. One male interviewee startedworking from home to spend more time with his handicapped daughter. However, hecould not concentrate on his work while doing so, and subsequently he arranged towork part-time. Here is a rare case in which telecommuting initially offered an oppor-tunity to get acquainted with a part of life, that proved to be valuable, and finally leadto a change in external division of labour, without telecommuting, though.

External division of labour also relates to the extent of monetarisation of the house-hold, which means the division between purchased consumer goods and services andhome production, or the substitution of domestic labour by the labour or production ofothers, also called outsourcing. Keuzenkamp et al. (2000) discern informal and formalmodes of outsourcing, the first being outsourcing to friends and relatives, the latter tothe market, for instance ready-made food, paid domestic help, delivery services. Theyfound that double-income households often have paid domestic help, but that this wasseldom the case with small-one-and-a-half earner households and the single-earnerhouseholds. Some interviewees mentioned feeling guilty when someone else wascleaning their house while they were working at their computer. In cases like this theyhad two alternative. One was to take over the cleaning themselves – which some did.The other was to schedule the paid help on days they worked in their employer's office.

In 1995, the Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau found that almost one quarter of Dutchhouseholds make use of delivery services, mainly of groceries (Keuzenkamp et al.2000). In particular, this was the case in single-earner and small-one-and-a-half-earnerhouseholds. Keuzenkamp et al. seek the explanation for this in the fact that these prod-ucts are delivered in the daytime. It can be assumed that women in single earners andsmall-one-and-a-half earner households are more often at home by day than the thosein large-one-and-a-half-earner households and double-earner households. However,telecommuters are at home during the daytime as well. Further research would be nec-essary to see if there is a relationship between telecommuting and utilisation of homedelivery services. By that time, only few Dutch households mentioned tele-shopping asan option. This kind of shopping was then still in its infancy. More recent figures makeclear that 36 percent of Dutch Internet users ordered something on line and 30 percentof all consumers are interested in doing one's shopping that way (Keuzenkamp et al.2000). Telecommuters have in most cases access to the Internet and they are at homeduring the day. The interviewees and also the respondents of the IDC-survey men-tioned tele-banking and tele-shopping as an option. On the other hand, some interview-ees also mentioned to go shopping more often since they worked at home. They likedto leave the house every once in a while and replaced the once-a-week shopping bysmaller amounts of purchases during the week.

The assumption is plausible, that families with home-working members spend lessmoney on childcare and baby sitting, and fast food. This idea was supported by re-marks of interviewees:


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‘When the children were smaller, I was glad to work outside the home.Otherwise I would have let them lunch at home, which takes an awful lot oftime.’

On the other hand, parents with small children stated that they did not cut back on paidchildcare, because:

'Working with children around is not possible.’

Next to changes in the division of labour among members of the household or betweenhousehold and market, the content of the activities themselves could change. Inter-viewed telecommuters tended to go out for an errand when they needed anything, be-cause they had the time for it or because they liked the break. It was suggested thattelecommuters replace the once-in-a-week visit to the supermarket by everyday shop-ping in the neighbourhood. The supposition that telecommuting might affect the dailymenu and composition of meals has to be further investigated. When spending morehours at home it is possible to prepare traditional dishes as soups and stews, whichrequire long cooking time. In this phase of the research, no indications in this directionwere found.

5.4. Household, family life course and telecommutingWithout demographic changes there would not have been such an increase of telework,is the opinion of Kompast and Wagner (1998). Especially the growth of both single-parent households and of two-earner households in Europe had a stimulating effect.Full-time childcarers have become a statistical rarity. There are also fewer householdsthat are able to rely on the extended family (in particular grandparents) to providechildcare. The majority of households with young children are now faced with thenecessity to juggle work commitments with caring ones, often extended to the care fora sick or frail adult. Forsebäck's life-cycle approach (1995) expects a growing interestin telecommuting with age:

'If we adopt such a perspective, we should, beginning in our early forties, have agradually lower demand for self-affirmation by an affiliation to a fixed workorganisation. In other words, we should have an increasing incentive to strive toliberate ourselves from a working place community that means relatively lessand less. As ‘solitaries’ we should have strong reasons to seek seclusion to try tosum up our experiences and try to share these with other people. If thishypothesis is correct, the interest in telework should have a positive relationshipwith age. But the hypothesis cannot be tested, for one thing because today’s‘solitaries’ to such a small extent have been able to assimilate the most basicand practical prerequisites for teleworking, i.e. have not acquired a sufficientlyintimate knowledge of computers and electronic communication' (Forsebäck1995: 86).


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In many researches a correlation between young children and home-working women issuggested. Fothergill (1994) for instance found that in particular women mentionedchildren as the main reason to work at home. Tailleu and Van der Wielen (1995) alsonote that lower income groups – mainly consisting of young women with children –think time for family and possibilities for childcare a rather important advantage oftelecommuting. The middle and higher income groups think this is hardly an advan-tage. For them this reason probably did not play a role in their decision to work athome.

The interviewees and focus group participants – mainly women – related in major-ity to children. Some of them started to work at home when their first child was born;one did it to be able to take care of her grandchild, one had a handicapped child andone had children that were often ill.

‘I want to be at home for him, very intentional.’

But there were also some who started working at home when the children grew older,because they were afraid that young children would distract them from work. For 19percent of the respondents in the IDC-interview, the confrontation with children (andhousehold tasks) were a reason for not working at home. Most interviewees made re-marks about the difficulty or even impossibility to combine work and children:

‘You are allowed to have children, but they shouldn't be a burden to your boss.’

Children distract the telecommuters from their work and diminish their concentration,and children's noises do not give a professional impression. On the other hand, workingat home means that the telecommuter can jump in when necessary, because he or shecan shift working hours to other points of time. Or they are at home for an ill or handi-capped child, who does not need active care, but for whom it is pleasant that a parent isaround. Though critical remarks were made, many of the interviewees stressed the factthat they wanted it this way:

‘I wanted to have it all. Work and children. And we want to do everythingourselves.’

Moreover, children can impinge on the work sphere, but they also can contribute in apositive way to a separation of work and domestic sphere, because they force the par-ent to concentrate on something else:

‘When my child comes home, I have to do something else, so I change from onerole into another. Then you are seized by something totally different and thenyou can leave your work behind…’

This particular interviewee noted that work and family life were much more intermin-gled before she had a child. Then she went to the office in weekends or at night, ortook work home to get things done. The interviewees agreed with the statement –drawn from researches of Forthergill (1994) and others – that women more often relate


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to children than men. Men seem to be more capable to cut themselves off of the de-mands children make. The opinions of these mothers were not unambiguous. Smallchildren might have been a reason to work at home, and they would do it again, if theyhad the choice. However, because concentrated work is not possible with childrenaround, they thought that as much childcare was needed as when working outside thehome. Despite this conviction, children came home for lunch, parents worked whiletheir children were sleeping, a mother worked while her grown-up, handicapped sonwas around the house, a second mother worked while her children were ill in bed. Theycould – and more often than not did indeed – save money on day-care, lunch at school,baby-sitters and other services, despite their emphasis on the need for care.

5.5. Changing norms and valuesWorking at home could be the expression of the post-modern norms and values, ofchanging work structures and management culture. Nowotny (1982) emphasises theincreasing resemblance of the organising principles of work and leisure. She points outthat earlier attempts to subject the home to the guiding principles of scientific man-agement had only been moderately successful (see for instance Collange 1970; Van 'tKlooster-van Wingerden en De Wit-Sauer 1978). Differences between factory workand housework appeared to be too large. With the massive introduction of informationtechnology on one hand, and of self-service goods into the home and leisure activitieson the other, Nowotny expected a more successful rapprochement this time. Accordingto Haddon (1998) domestic life has its own rhythms and routines, its temporal andspatial patterns, its shared values and rules as well as its domestic conflicts. These allshape how teleworking can enter the home and has to be adjusted to fit in with homelife. On the other hand, the arrival of telework, with its own organising principles, canhave a bearing on those domestic patterns (Haddon 1998).

A similar approach is taken by Breedveld (2000), putting the changing attitudes to-wards work in their historical context. According to him, the modest Dutch were in the1960s little by little caught up in what he calls the American way of life. Work becamean instrument to earn money, instead of a holy duty. Because money could be earned,luxury appeared to be within the reach of many. In their spare time, people could showwho they were. Leisure time and labour became each other's antipodes, like men andwomen had their own worlds and like Sundays and weekdays had their own meaning.This is what Breedveld (2000) terms a tea cosy culture with a dual time system. Verydifferent from the dual tea cosy culture is the culture of the 24-hours economy, whichis the culture of the ‘me-generation’ with flexible working hours and places, flexiblecontracts, participation of women in the labour market and of men in household tasks.Breedveld (2000) and others (Keuzenkamp et al. 2000) advocate a replacement of thework ethics by a combination ethic. The combination scenario leads on the one hand toan over-organised existence, while on the other hand a growing attention to a hedonis-tic way of life can be observed. Consequently, attitudes towards labour take manyforms. There are those who do not feel ashamed to admit that they only work for themoney, while others take their work more serious than ever and spend most of theirtime on it. In both cases, work culture and atmosphere and employee's benefits areimportant. This is reflected in, for instance, employment advertisements. 'They under-


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stand that you work to live', says a radio spot in the beginning of 2001. And a full-pageadvertisement of one of the Netherlands' biggest banking companies pays extensiveattention to culture. After a long story about the content and significance of culture, theadvertisement concludes with:

'You should not underestimate this culture. (…) It is important to wonder if acompany's culture matches your own culture. (…) Your work has to be a placewhere you are at home. A place that is 'own'.' (Advertisement ABN-AMRO,Volkskrant 10 February 2001)

Twenty – and maybe even five – years earlier, such an advertisement would have beenunthinkable. Now it is one way to attract enough – and the right – applicants for themany vacancies that exist. Those vacancies are partly filled by women. In the 1960sand 1970s they entered the labour market, not so much out of necessity but as a resultof their emancipation process. Now the limits of the combination scenario are felt.Breedveld (2000), citing the Commissie Dagindeling (the Committee Program of theDay), indicates how serious the difficulties are. Two million Dutch experience prob-lems with the combination of work and care. Double-income couples feel more stressand run a bigger risk to marital conflicts than single-earners. And women are lesshappy than men (Volkskrant 14 April 2001). However, there is no way back. It wouldbe short-sighted to conclude that women could better stay at home. As Hochschildwrites in The Time Bind:

'The difficulty is not that women have entered the workplace but that they havedone so on male terms' (Hochschild 1997: 247).

These general changes in norms and values – also reported by Terreehorst (1994), vander Maas en Haket (1995), te Kloeze et al. (1996) – might favour telework, in particu-lar in post-modern families, in which man and woman share the responsibility forhousehold and childcare and autonomy of partners and children is positively evaluated.In those families motherhood is rejected as the only life fulfilment or social identity,and men attach significance to family life and leisure time over their career. The ac-ceptance of home work increases with the growth in flexibility in general and with atrend towards entrepreneurialism. This trend is described by Felstead and Jewson(2000), when they mention the evidence of a general trend in organisational govern-ance away from the external imposition of bureaucratic rules and regulation towardsthe internalisation of norms, values and attitudes through the manipulation of organisa-tional culture. Empowerment, participation, self-motivation and self-control, are thevalues of entrepreneurialism. Employees are expected to become entrepreneurs of theself, who invent their own job, career, qualifications, biography, and ultimately them-selves. This trend fits very well with telecommuting, where the employees are awayfrom the office and the direct control of their managers. By working at home, princi-ples and practices derived from the workplace are introduced into the home. This mayrequire a redefinition and renegotiation of the household understandings (Felstead andJewson 2000). One of the expressions of this is the bigger need for planning, as men-tioned in section 5.3.


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The attitude towards career and family is gender biased. According to severalauthors (Fothergill 1994; Greenbaum 1994; Tailleu en Van der Wielen 1995; Vernooijand Casimir 1996; V. Frissen 2000), women put forward more family-oriented motivesto work at home than men. Fothergill (1994) remarks that women show a discrepancyin their views on gender roles and their actual behaviour. They claim that being amother or a housewife is not their primary role, and taking care of household and chil-dren is not their sole responsibility. On the other hand, their practical situation is dif-ferent, as we have seen in Chapter 4, Theoretical framework. More highly educatedwomen are on average more career-oriented than women with little education (Droo-gleever Fortuijn 1993; De Hart 1995). Consequently, highly educated women mightapply more career-oriented motives to work at home, than others. Fitzgerald and Win-ter (2001) indicate that men are less sensitive than women to intrusions of home-basedwork on family life because men’s role definitions do not include household chores andchildcare. Thus they are more capable of clarifying kins or neighbours that they are atwork, when being at home.

Since most interviewees were women, it was difficult to gain insight into the genderaspects of the attitudes. The education of the interviewees ranked from lower voca-tional training to university. The women with children all expressed their ambiguity. Inparticular the more highly educated women referred to family-oriented motives to workat home. They wanted to continue their career and yet have children, which was madepossible by – at least part of the time – telecommuting. The IDC-survey produced cleargender differences. Only 10 percent of breadwinning home-workers thought gainingtime to spend on household and family was an important argument for working athome. The answers of the second income earner in a family, mainly women, were dif-ferent: 30 percent of them thought family was an important or very important reason towork at home (Casimir 1997d; Vernooij en Casimir 1996).

It can be questioned if norms and values about the content of housekeeping change,when people work at home. In general, time spent on cleaning the house is decreasing(Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 1998, 2000). Norms about cleaning change over timeand can show big individual differences. For instance, the frequency of window clean-ing can vary from once a week to once or twice a year. On the other hand, clothes arecleaned more often. The introduction of the washing machine did not cause a decreasein hours spent on laundry.

The exploratory investigations did not established a relation between telecommut-ing and changing norms on housekeeping in general. However, remarks were madeabout appearance. Working at home meant for most interviewees that they dresseddifferently and spent less time on 'grooming'. They did not have to dress up, wear a tie,use the hairdryer. Although the respondents felt this as a positive aspect of telecom-muting, they also saw that dressing up for colleagues or clients has a social and expres-sive aspect, which is enjoyable as well. The image of a whole family in pyjamas at thecomputer, was regarded with apprehension. Appearance was subject of the group dis-cussion also in a different way. In the preceding long and very hot summer, some ofthe participants used to work early and spent the afternoons in the garden or on thebeach. The remark of one of them:


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‘But use a sunscreen factor 20, because it is absolutely not permitted to gettanned. Your colleagues might think that you are doing nothing but sitting in thegarden…’

was encountered with recognising laughter. Jealousy of colleagues seemed to be acommon thing and many accommodated their behaviour to avoid disapproval or envy.

5.6. Resources and telecommuting

5.6.1. TimeThe available resources affect the way telecommuting is performed, and vice versa,telecommuting can influence the resources. Most influenced, of course, is time. Notonly the amount of time can change – mainly by saving commuting time, partly bysaving time on grooming – but also the moments of time on which the telecommuter isavailable for other activities.

Gained time can be spent on work or on household chores. The women who re-ported to feel embarrassed with paid domestic help when they were at home, choose tospend more time on cleaning the house. Most of the women, and some men, reportedspecific tasks that were done in between, in particular laundry and dishes:

‘Then I put on the washing machine in the morning and when I take a coffeebreak, I take the laundry out.’

Half of the female interviewees reported that they spent more time on the house and thechildren, not so much because there was more time available, but mainly because theyhappened to be there. Children asked to have lunch at home '...because you are at homeanyway.' Paid work was shifted to the time the children were asleep or the partner wasavailable to take care of them. Here not only the quantity of time counted, but also amore qualitative aspect of time, i.e. the moments the telecommuter was available(Spittje 1999; Casimir 1997d).

Saving travel time was not necessarily a reason or a motive to work at home. It de-pended very much on the situation of the person involved. Main breadwinners whoworked at home did not report travel time as an important item. In the IDC-survey only9 percent of them thought this was important or very important. However, if a secondworker worked at home, saving travel time was important: 29 percent of them said so.For the ones who wanted to work at home, travel time was even more important. 38percent of them answered that saving travel time was important or very important.

The explanation for this difference might be that the main breadwinner was moreoften than not a man, the other income earner a woman. Women are more often re-sponsible for the children and they spend more time on childcare than men. When thereis one car in a family, women have in lesser cases this car at their disposal (Droo-gleever Fortuijn 1993; Sinkeldam en Groot 2001). In the Netherlands there are littlefacilities for day-care after school hours. A school bus system is only maintained inspecific situations, for instance on behalf of a special school. Consequently mothers(more often than fathers) have to be at the school at a specific time to pick up their


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children. Hence, they have an interest in saving travel time. Droogleever Fortuijn foundin this respect that women tend to work closer to their homes than men. A similar dif-ference is found regarding the statement: ‘Gaining time to spend on household andfamily’. Only 10 percent of home working breadwinners thought this was an importantor very important motive to work at home, 30 percent of the second home workers and33 percent of the ones who wanted to work at home found this important or very im-portant.

The most important aspect of time is the flexibility of time.

‘I couldn't do without that flexibility; I work when I like to work.’

And someone else said:

‘I work at 'strange' hours, on Christmas Day for instance, or late at night.’

Fifty percent of the breadwinning home workers and even 65 percent of the othersfound it important or very important to control their own time schedule. Often flexibil-ity is very much associated with telework, but the extent of flexibility depends on thetype of work. Telephonists who work at home cannot master their own schedule. Theyhave to be there at fixed hours. Workers in higher positions, especially when employedin staff positions, have more freedom to master their own time schedule and workcontent. They can shift work to convenient moments, or they interrupt their profes-sional work with household chores. Flexibility seems obvious from an individual pointof view, but often the nominal gain in freedom for family and leisure time is out-weighed by indispensable obligations. Taking into account the working time patternsof couples and families, instead of individual telecommuters, one has to consider aderegulation of those patterns in many areas of work. A growing flexibility of workingtime schedules determines the degree of common social time through the number ofunsocial hours that have to be worked in families (Büssing 1988). Or, as Haddon putsit:

'… those female clerical teleworkers, and some professionals, who could notafford to pay for childcare could often only work when the children were notaround or when their partners could look after them. In cases where youngchildren were present this meant working in the evenings and at weekends'(Haddon 1998: 139).

Most interviewees and respondents in the IDC-survey remarked that it is not possibleto combine childcare and work at the same time, but when a child needs to be takencare of during working hours, it is easier to arrange this when working at home. Thework can wait until the evening or the weekend. This flexibility is at the same time apitfall. It is tempting to start cleaning up or do the laundry when one should be at work,and the mingling of private and public sphere can give rise to the feeling that the workis never done. Indeed, 26 percent of the respondents in the IDC-survey reported so.


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5.6.2. Human resourcesWorking at home requires special characteristics. People who work at home need to beself-motivated and self-disciplined; they must be able to work alone, at their ownspeed. If the telecommuter has not developed these skills, the telecommuter’s vulne r-ability to interruption may become a source of stress (European Commission 1998). AsForsebäck writes:

'The at times very slight difference between success and failure, dream ornightmare, lies mainly in the way both parties are able to cope with the socialperspectives that beckon. For example, how the employees are able to set upperformance goals for themselves and put up their own rules and routines foreveryday work, and how they succeed in drawing the line between work andleisure' (Forsebäck 1995: 81).

Felstead and Jewson (2000) call this the ability to managing the self. Next to thesemanagement skills, telecommuters need the skills to master the high-grade technologythey are using. In contrast to work in the office, there is generally no help-desk near athand. In the interviews this was often mentioned as one of the drawbacks of working athome. In particular the installation of fax machines was mentioned as a problematicthing. On the other hand, the skills – and the equipment – acquired by this kind ofwork, often benefited the private life of the telecommuter or his or her householdmembers. PC's and Internet connection were used for volunteer work or recreationalactivities.

Social networks can play an important role in the execution of telework. As one ofthe participants of the focus group discussion put it: ‘The whole family is teleworking.’She meant that other members of her household took her work into consideration, lefther alone when needed or took care of the children when she was at work. Sometimesthey even gave practical assistance with the work itself, for instance a father-in-lawwho helped with a mailing. In those cases the household could be regarded as a pro-duction unit, not only producing domestic goods and services, but also producing for amarket. This looks like Terreehorst's description of the pre-industrial farm model (Ter-reehorst 1994; see also Chapter 3).

5.6.3. Money, goods and servicesMoney is, of course, a very important resource and sometimes a reason to start workingat home, for instance when no other possibilities are available. Schop (1998) lists thecategories, where costs or savings can be encountered, or for which employers maygrant allowances: technical devices; work space (possibly renovation, furnishing, use);energy and electricity; communication; commuter traffic; childcare. Next to these,telecommuting can effect household expenses in a more indirect way. Some house-holds refrain from paid domestic help. Others report that telecommuting gives them thepossibility to take part in activities during the day, for instance outdoor sports, whichalso influences their budget (Schop 1998). Although telecommuters might save travelexpenses (Spittje 1999), they sometimes miss some benefits in this respect. A leased


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car or a seasonal ticket for public transport is not profitable for their employer, whenthey work at home more than one day.

From the interviews and group discussion it appeared that great differences existedin the way employers deal with reimbursements. Direct costs of telecommunicationwere paid by most of them. It was common that technical devices as computer andaccompanying software, printer, modem, fax machine, answering machine, or a photo-copier, were provided by the employer, if clearly needed for the job. Infrastructure andtelecommunication connections were often entirely or partly provided by the employer.Some telecommuters had their own computer. Although working at home involvedenergy costs – heating, electricity, but also coffee, which, in most offices, is offered bythe employer – hardly any employer paid an allowance for that. There were exceptions,though. The secretary of a co-operation of building contractors was paid rent for herroom. Some larger firms have had discussions with the Dutch Treasury about allow-ance levels. If they pay too much, the employee is taxed for it (Casimir 1996b). Manytelecommuters never raised the question, because they did not realise that telecom-muting was also beneficial for their employers, who save money and time on com-muting. Also, they felt highly privileged by working at home and hence did not want todisturb the relationship with their employer. Some admitted that the thought of asking areimbursement never crossed their mind (Casimir 1997d).

Telecommuting and technical equipment, infrastructure and connections go to-gether. Some of the interviewees liked working at home because they had better facili-ties there, like a faster PC or an Internet connection. In other cases the facilities in theoffice of the employer were better, for instance a high quality printer, an Internet con-nection (or a faster Internet connection than at home), a photocopier and the availabil-ity of a help desk or colleagues who could assist with hardware and software problems.The presence of facilities at home often facilitated telecommuting or made the decisionto do so easier. One of the interviewees for instance reported that there was no room inthe office and no PC available for her. The fact that she had both room and equipmentat home, played an important role in her case.

When asked if they used the equipment for private activities, the first reaction ofmany interviewees was negative. After giving some examples, they all came up withactivities: minutes of a meeting, homework of children, tele-banking, results of sportscompetitions, communication with relatives and friends, desk top publishing of ahobby magazine etc. The equipment – in particular the extra telephone line and an-swering machine – could also be used to manage the boundaries between work andprivate life.

5.6.4. SpaceCommunication technology makes work even more independent of place. As a resultof this, the place is increasingly important for the worker him- or herself. The func-tional aspects of the accommodation will be expanded (see Pennartz 1981). The homewill have to provide working space and facilities – infrastructure for telecommunica-tions and electricity – to do so. Next to that, the social and existential function willchange too, both for the private as for the work environment. Since the home is – incapitalist societies – the primary site of social reproduction, the social relations of re-


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production impinge upon those of production and vice versa (Felstead and Jewson2000).

A Dutch government publication about house-building in the future states that tele-commuting could influence the demands employees make on their accommodation,especially in certain regions (Toekomstgericht Bouwen 1994). Terreehorst (1994)thinks a spacious country house ideal for the post-modern telecommuting family, be-cause according to her, working parents must have enough room for small officeswhere they can place the communication hardware and software, room to receiveguests, to relax, and for gymnastics. However, also people with more moderate wishes,prefer a separate room to work, as one of the interviewees remarked:

‘When we bought this house, a separate study for me was an absolute condition.I want to be able to close the door behind me and to concentrate on my work.The place has to be really well fixed. It has to be a really business-like workenvironment, so to say, at least for me. It must not mingle with private things.’

For many the study expressed a symbolic or existential function:

‘It is really my room.’

Or:

‘I shut the door behind me and I think: ‘now it is my turn.’

The room had a social connotation where it was the place to meet people, or just toretreat from others:

‘I find it alright when the children play there, but I couldn't work in the livingroom.’

Only few worked in the living room, not because there was no room elsewhere in thehouse, but because they liked it that way:

‘It forces me to clear my desk when I get visitors.’

The utilitarian function of space was often indicated. The room had to provide enoughspace for all the equipment and it had to be good to work in. Often professionalism wasmentioned:

‘It is important that this room is perfect to work in. This room has to have aprofessional character.’

If the telecommuter hosted clients or colleagues at home, not only the room itself, butalso the entrance to the room had to have a professional look. In some cases the roomhad to be conquered over household members. One of the interviewees used to haveher desk in her husband's study, but after this husband took a few times accidentally


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her papers to his work, she decided to arrange a desk in the bedroom. She hoped no-body would start to send faxes in the middle of the night. When no room was available,building one was sometimes a solution. One couple made a big study in the garage,also suitable to receive clients. Others were more reluctant to do so:

‘Half a year ago we were thinking about rebuilding the place. Make it more anoffice. But I am not sure if I really want that.’

Enough room and a suitable room to work was one thing. Next to that, the intervieweesstressed the significance of nice surroundings, a good school for the children, a pleas-ant house. Especially the ones who lived in rural communities or in the woods, valuedtheir living conditions very much. Conversely, some interviewees reported that theywanted to leave the strongly urbanised agglomeration of Western Holland. There wereinterviewees who could stay in one place when their employer's office moved to an-other, or who could move to the countryside and keep the job in the city. One movedback to the village where he originated from, another one was thinking about a similarmove. The Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (2000) notes, that mobility on the housingmarket decreases with age, beginning around forty years old. The interviewees sug-gested that immobility and the wish for telecommuting go together.

5.7. AssessmentIt was expected (by Fothergill 1991; Büssing 1998; and others) that especially genderrelated obligations would be a moderator of the relationship between teleworking andthe quality of life outside of work, as well as at work. Female telecommuters wouldpick up a more traditional female role when they are confronted with the laundry andthe dishes because they live in the house all day. Fothergill (1991) indeed found such acorrelation:

'There is little evidence of a significant change in traditional gender roles withinthe home. (..) The pattern of gender roles is not automatically changed justbecause a man works at home' (Fothergill 1991: 346).

Büssing's research (1998) shows two sides of the coin and depicts gains, losses and theambivalence of the teleworkers. He found, for instance, a better overall fit and an im-proved synchronisation between family obligations and work requirements, especiallyfor women; reduced stress because of reduced working hours; more autonomy forworking time regulations; and so on. However, because the fit between work and fam-ily is largely due to the decision of the teleworker, one easily can imagine the 'goldencage' the teleworker is caught in (see also Weijers en Weijers 1986).

Sahori found in this respect that especially female workers felt a slightly higher im-pact of telework on aspects outside their work, i.e. in the domestic sphere, while menseemed to feel a stronger effect on the work itself. Her research shows that womenworking outside the home felt difficulty in balancing household chores and raisingchildren with work. Working at home was one way to ease the situation (Sahori 1999).


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Steward (1999) points out that most telecommuting projects assume that being athome is always preferable to working in the office. She calls this the concept of a ‘ma-lign office and a benign home’. Hochschild (1997) found in The Time Bind that fathersreport more positive emotional states at home; whereas mothers note more positiveemotional states at work. Home is not always the best place to be, and a separation ofhome and work has not only negative aspects, is her conclusion. On the contrary, manypeople like to go out of their homes regularly, to meet other people, but also to escapefrom the home or their family.

In Chapter 4 (Theoretical framework) the concept of spill-over was introduced. Hillet al.(1995) cite several examples of positive spill-over as a result of telecommuting, inparticular in integrating work and family responsibilities like childcare and otherhousehold tasks. Another example of positive spill-over is when work-related skills orgoods benefit partners, children or friends in their daily life, for instance: volunteerwork, help with children’s school work, communication with distant relatives. Also,more understanding for the work of the breadwinner by other members of the family asa result of the regular confrontation with that work, can be regarded as positive spill-over.

The interviews and group discussion gave examples of these. The combination ofbeing an employee and a parent was made more easy by the possibility of telecom-muting. It could diminished stress, as one man (no children) stated. He did the dishesor started hoovering, when he got stuck with his work. According to him:

'Household labour is a good cure for stress.'

On the other hand, there is also some empirical evidence for negative spill-over. Thelack of spatial separation between family and work might increase stress among familymembers; and vice versa, there could be a negative relationship between family rela-tions and satisfaction with telework (Benschop 1997; Felstead and Jewson 2000).Many claim that combining dependent care with telework is ineffective (Hill et al.1995; Casimir 1996b).

Although the interviewed telecommuters evaluated their situation in general aspositive, they made many remarks about the disadvantages. Interviewees reported that,while working at home, household tasks imposed themselves upon them. The disheswere sitting on the kitchen sink, asking to be washed, the laundry was waiting fortreatment. The result was that many women experienced an increasing amount of do-mestic labour. There was, for instance, the woman who's husband did walk the dogsbefore she started working at home, and the one who realised that the original negoti-ated division of labour had faded away. However, though these facts were presented ascomplaints, they were followed by the admission that it was their own fault that thingswent in this direction, or that they do not mind so much.

Not only the household chores interfered with the work, the work also interferedwith the private sphere. Twenty-five percent of the teleworkers in the IDC-survey ex-pressed the feeling that the (paid) work was never done. The interviewees and discus-sion participants said the same. Many of them found that they spent more time on theirjob when working at home, because they wrote down net hours and because theywanted to perform a good job:


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‘My work should not be good; it should be perfect.’

Considering all the pro's and cons of telecommuting, many of the interviewees re-garded telework as the best of two evils:

‘I rather would work outside the home, but the good thing is that you can shiftyour work easily to another point of time, in case of a calamity. There seems tobe a calamity every week…’

In general, respondents thought that advantages of working at home prevailed over thedisadvantages. It improved the quality of daily life, enabled a better interaction be-tween work and private life, and it raised the quality of the paid work.

5.8. Strategies regarding telecommutingThe main challenge for telecommuters is to balance work and private life, managingthe boundaries between them. To manage the boundaries within the home, and to han-dle the effects of negative spill-over within the home, segregation or segmentation ismostly used. To get enough work done on one hand, and to guard themselves againsttoo much work on the other, many telecommuters write down the exact amount ofhours worked, using fixed time schedules and a fixed place to work. In the IDC-survey,34 percent of the respondents agreed with the proposition that a time schedule is es-sential; 44 percent said not to need it. When telecommuters wrote down their hours,they often reported to write net hours, unlike when working in an office where coffeebreaks and chatting with colleagues count as part of the job.

As telecommuters separate working time from leisure time, they also separateworking space from leisure space. The study serves as an office, separated from the restof the house. Rules and agreements about the use of resources are formulated. Oftenthe admission to the PC is subject to strict rules (with priority for the telecommuter).Some examined families made appointments about the use of the telephone: no privatecalls during working hours. In other cases an extra telephone line, fax or answeringmachine separated private calls from business communication. Thus telecommutersreproduced the traditional division of labour between paid and unpaid work (Vernooijen Casimir 1996; Casimir 1996b).

Hill et al. (1996) suggest that teleworkers should establish rituals at the beginningof the work day to mark the start of work, and more importantly, other rituals to markthe end of the work day. There are no data available to know if the interviewees prac-tised this kind of rituals or not.

Segmentation is used by career-oriented families to prevent the private sphere tointrude into the work sphere, and by family-oriented households to keep the work out-side the private life. Segmentation is not only useful for the telecommuter him- or her-self. It makes also clear to others when this person is working and when he or she isfree. Segmentation has next to time and space also to do with noise: both telecommut-ers and their employers usually do not like barking dogs or screaming children in thebackground, when talking on the telephone to a client (A. Metselaar 1994; Casimir


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1995b). The opposite of segmentation is integration and openness: the establishment ofa fusion of the two types of activities and spheres (Felstead and Jewson 2000). In anintegrated, open household, domestic and work activities are executed in the samespace, within sight and sound of each other, allowing for easy and ready interaction.There is no prohibition, for example, on members of the family answering the tele-phone to clients or for neighbours coming in at working hours.

Only a few interviewees preferred integration and openness. They had their desk inthe living room or they made a playing corner in their study. Women showed an am-biguous attitude towards an integrational strategy. On one hand they seemed to be bet-ter equipped to manage the combination of many tasks at the same time. On the otherhand they indicated to be more susceptible to the expectations of others than men are.The interviewees reported difficulties in concentrating on their work when childrenwere around and asked for attention.

From literature it is known that there are two factors that encourage men to performmore household tasks (Wheelock 1990; Te Kloeze et al. 1996). One is the need for it,for instance when their female partner has a job outside the home and paid childcare istoo expensive. The other is their motivation. If they really want to take care of theirchildren they will more readily engage in household tasks. Several of the female tele-commuting interviewees had husbands who took care of the children when they wereworking. Some men indicated to use telecommuting as a strategy to be able to takemore care of the children. Thus telecommuting did not only call for strategies to bal-ance work and private life, but was also used as a strategy itself to realise a desiredbalance.

5.9. Research questions and hypothesesThe literature discussed in Chapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change)and 4 (Theoretical framework), combined with the results of the exploratory investiga-tions discussed in this chapter, clarifies the possible interrelationship of telecommutingand household activities, household characteristics, standard of care, resources, level ofcare and quality of life. However, it leaves as many questions as well.

Do telecommuters really perform more household tasks than before and do thesetasks change? To what extent is the family life course related to telecommuting? Whatis the role of the normative context of telecommuters? What role do resources play andhow does their use and allocation change as a result of telecommuting? How do tele-commuters assess their situation and what strategies do they apply to balance theirexpectations with their actual situation?

5.9.1. Refining the research questionsThe above questions can be summarised in the following research questions:1. To what extent does the external division of labour (division between paid and un-

paid labour, extent of outsourcing to the market or self-care) change when peoplestart telecommuting?

2. How does the internal division of labour among household members change bytelecommuting and how does the content of the daily care change?


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3. How do households assess these changes and what strategies do they apply tominimise possibly negative consequences; or is telecommuting by itself a strategyto match wishes and possibilities.

It is expected that changes in level of care caused by telecommuting differ according tohousehold characteristics, resources and standards of care. In family-oriented, asym-metrical households – in which the man is the main breadwinner and the woman firstand foremost housewife and mother – it is plausible that women perform more house-hold tasks as they or their husband start working at home. Families aspiring a moresymmetrical division of labour, might use telecommuting as a strategy to realise orenhance this. It will be investigated whether the answers to the questions above differaccording to household characteristics, resources and standard of care. Since childrenhave a great impact on domestic labour, this research focuses on families with children.

It is hypothesised that in family-oriented, asymmetrical families, telework will in-tensify the asymmetry and will amplify the extent of self-production. As a consequenceof telecommuting, the external division of labour, the magnitude of household labourand the internal division of labour will shift in a such a way that women get more workto do. Women with a traditional, asymmetrical view will be reinforced in their role ofhousewife, not only when they themselves start working at home, but also when theirmale partner does. In those households more time and attention will be paid to domes-tic labour. Consequently, less money will be spent on paid facilities.

In households where the man wants to take more responsibility for children, tele-commuting can be used as a strategy to enable this. In some cases, telecommutingleads to a higher participation of men in household tasks, even opposed to their ownideology. This can be the case when the woman has a substantial job outside the homeand there are not enough financial resources available to afford paid domestic help andchildcare. It is expected that family-oriented women positively assess the changes inthe direction of a reinforced housewife’s role, whereas career-oriented women evaluatethis negatively.

5.9.2. HypothesesWhen the work sphere and the domestic sphere come physically closer, it is plausiblethat also the differences in attitudes towards paid and unpaid labour will decrease. Theassumption is, that both the attitude towards domestic labour and to paid labourchange, when the two spheres move closer to each other. Telecommuters might acquirea more task-oriented and less time-oriented attitude towards their paid labour, becausethis labour is performed in the domestic sphere, which is more task-oriented in itself.Time becomes less important, one does not need to hurry, to be ahead of the trafficjam, to be in time for dinner, to catch a train on time. Working late does no longer en-tail an empty unpleasant building, or an unsafe bicycle ride to a deserted railway sta-tion. Work is not so much squeezed in measured units. As a matter of fact, this is inaccordance with changes that are reported from telework managers: the work itself hasto be defined in terms of output, and not so much in the amount of time that is spent onit and presence of the worker at the work place, like traditional managers were used to.


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Introducing work in the domestic sphere could change the attitude towards paid la-bour as well. The idea that telecommuting brings back the old productive family is truein the sense that working at home strengthens the task-orientation of the paid labour.There is, however, a relation with the extent of autonomy of the teleworker. Telephoneoperators, for instance, still do very time-bound work. It is plausible that their attitudetowards work is also time-oriented; they are typical 'wage earners' who work to live.Money is more important than job satisfaction. Schop’s interviews support this a s-sumption. She found that her interviewees were not very much interested in the costs oftelecommuting and the reimbursement of expenses by their employers, except for theone who had a job as a telephone operator (Schop 1998). Teleworkers with little auton-omy are more time-oriented and therefore more interested in costs and direct benefitsof the job. Of course the level of income influences their interest in money, but otherswith low incomes do not emphasise this aspect as much. They experience more secon-dary benefits of working at home. The assumption is plausible, that families withhome-working members spend less money on childcare and baby sitting, fast food, andpaid domestic help.

Summarising, the central hypothesis of this research is:

In asymmetrical, family-oriented households telecommuting reinforces theasymmetry. This applies to households of both male and femaletelecommuters.

Derived from this a second hypothesis can be formulated:

As a consequence of telecommuting, the attitude towards both unpaid,domestic and paid labour changes. The first becomes more time-oriented, thesecond more task-oriented.

To answer the research questions and to verify the hypotheses a survey was devised.The following chapter (Chapter 6, Methodological aspects and study design) describesthe operationalisation of concepts and the design of the survey. Chapter 7 (Results)reports the results. In Chapter 8 (Discussion) the results are discussed and placed in thecontext of preceding chapters.

Methodological aspects and study design

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6. Methodological aspects and studydesign

6.1. Research questionsIn the preceding chapters three research questions are developed to explore the changesin the division of domestic labour in telecommuters’ families:1. To what extent does the external division of labour (division between paid and

unpaid labour, extent of outsourcing to the market or self-care) change when peo-ple start telecommuting?

2. How does the internal division of labour (division among the members of thehousehold) change by telecommuting and how does the content of the daily carechange?

3. How do households assess these changes and which strategies do they apply tominimise possibly negative consequences; or is telecommuting by itself a strategyto match wishes and possibilities.

To find the answers to those questions and to examine if answers vary in accordancewith household characteristics like size, composition, standard of care and availableresources, a survey was conducted. This chapter describes the design of the survey andthe operationalisation of concepts.

6.2. General considerationsIn choosing a research methods, there are several issues to consider (Baarda en DeGoede 1997). One of the keywords in the above-mentioned research questions ischange. Change is, as Wheelock (1990) says, a difficult concept to grasp, and evenmore difficult to measure it. A longitudinal investigation – or a life history approach –seems most appropriate to examine changes over time. Such an investigation is alwaysdifficult to carry out. To most effectively employ this approach, the first interviews andobservations should be done with people who are not yet telecommuting. The next setsof interviews or observations should be done when those people are working at home.It will be very complicated to find enough respondents who will actually start workingat home within a given period of time.


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Equally, a quasi-experimental technique using a control group – comparing a groupof people who are actually telecommuting with a control group of people who are not –also has its difficulties. It will be very complicated to find a control group with exactlythe same characteristics as the telecommuters. Differences between telecommuters andnon-telecommuters might be the result of specific characteristics of the ones who workat home, not of the telecommuting as such.

One of the goals of this research was to collect data about behaviour. It is generallysuggested that behaviour should be investigated by observation, because many aspectsof behaviour are unconscious – or at least unrecognised – and because in interviewssocial acceptability plays a role. However, social acceptability can also influence ob-servations. Next to that, the research not only wanted to measure behaviour, but alsoexamine how people think about changes and the strategies they apply to match currentand desired situations. For the investigation of knowledge, attitudes and opinions thesurvey can be the appropriate method, provided it is carried out properly. Quantita-tively oriented interview research has been criticised for its use of closed answer cate-gories that provide little understanding for the way people really lead their daily lives,experience their jobs or perceive work-related issues. Open questions, on the otherhand, demand much of the respondents, because they are time consuming and requireverbal skills. If closed questions are used, it is important that they are phrased in such away that they can be understood by everyone without conveying the suggestion thatone answer is better or more correct than another (Reinharz 1994).

Considering all the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods, a writ-ten survey seemed most appropriate. For several reasons – explained below – the sur-vey was placed on the Internet. Respondents were sought through employers withtelecommuting-projects, who asked their telecommuters to co-operate on a voluntarybasis.

6.3. Internet surveysDigital surveys, either by e-mail or by Internet, are growing in popularity. A recentstudy among 300 managers found that 87 percent of them regard the Internet as a use-ful instrument for marketing research. In another piece of research 81 percent of firmssurveyed, expected to use the Internet for market research in the coming five years(Alternet 1999). The actual mechanisms used, vary from client specific chat-rooms tointeractive surveys on the Web. Inquiries sent by e-mail are also among the possibili-ties.

6.3.1. AdvantagesAdvantages of e-mail and web research can be summarised as follows (Alternet 1999;Multiscope 1999; Research Spectrum 1999): it is fast and cheap, easy to distribute, notintrusive, relatively objective and error-free.

Research on the Web is fast because it requires a shorter period of processing thedata. Since the respondents type in the data, the results can be processed immediately.No time – and no costs – has to be spent on data entry. The distribution of the surveysis also cheap. It does not require postage or telephone expenditures. In traditional sur-


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vey research the number of respondents is often determined by cost considerations,because most expenditures are respondent related: telephone, postage, time spent oninterviewing etc. When research is undertaken via the Web, the number of respondentshardly influence the costs. Programming, server time, etc. are fixed costs; communica-tion costs are at the expense of the respondents (Alternet 1999).

Web surveys are easy to distribute among dispersed respondents. Distance does notplay a role. They are user-friendly, in that they are very easy to complete. In particularthe correction of mistakes is much easier than on paper. If necessary, on line context-driven help can be made available. It is also possible to process data 'real time', whichmight result in immediate feedback to respondents. When properly programmed, a websurvey can also skip questions that are not applicable for that specific respondent.

Web surveys are also less intrusive than, for instance, telephonic surveys. Peoplecheck their e-mail and surf the Web when they have time for it. Respondents completethe survey at their convenience. The survey can be accessed 24 hours a day. Further-more, respondents can be objective, because there is no interviewer influence. Ac-cording to some market researchers (The Research Spectrum 1999) respondents givelonger, more articulate open-ended responses than they would over the telephone.

Finally, there is a reduced chance of error. If only one answer is allowed, the pro-gram never takes more than one answer. The program can also check the input and, forinstance, 'force' the respondent to fill in obligatory fields. Retyping of data by the re-searcher is not necessary, which not only reduces processing time and costs, but alsothe chance of errors.

6.3.2. DisadvantagesThere are, of course, disadvantages as well. Web research is not suitable for everyproject or target group. Respondents should have access to the Internet and, becausethe Internet use is not uniformly distributed throughout the population, many types ofpotential respondents would be underrepresented. The majority of Dutch Internet usersare still private persons, male, between 21 and 32 years old, highly educated with anabove-average income. However, the number of women using the Internet is growing;23 percent of all users are female. Users between 45 and 64 years old comprise 18percent of the total. Around 65 percent of all users log on to the Internet from theirhome address and over 58 percent have a private e-mail account at their disposal (In-ter/Media scope 1999).

Respondents also should be active users, who read their mail and are inclined to fillin questionnaires. European Telework Online (ETO) is of the opinion that it is easier toget respondents offline than online. The ETO suggests to design a very short, easy tofill in questionnaire, in which a question is added: 'Would you be prepared to answeradditional questions?'

'If 50 percent of the people you reach return the first short questionnaire andaffirm the last question you have a good chance of getting a further, moredetailed response from them later. (…) A typical response rate to unsolicitedquestionnaires is below 5%. Exceptionally, well designed and targeted


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questionnaires can achieve 15 percent or even 25 percent or more' (EuropeanTelework Online 1998).

In this research a high percentage of the population does have Internet access. Accord-ing to Heliview, logging on to the local network of the company is going to be themain mode of communication by telecommuters. Traditional telephone and fax use isclearly decreasing, while e-mail connections are increasing (Heliview 2000). Hence itis plausible that respondents are relatively easy to recruit by e-mail or through refer-ences on related websites, and perhaps even easier than with a mail survey.

6.4. Population and sampleThe research was restricted to the Netherlands because the division of domestic labouris to a high degree related to cultural differences and social services. Comparison be-tween different countries should also take these differences into account. The totalpopulation of telecommuters in the Netherlands is estimated to be 200,000 in 1998. Asdescribed in Chapter 2 (Telework), estimates of numbers vary according to the defini-tion of a telecommuter. This research focuses on employees, who regularly work athome. As this research project was particularly interested in changes in the division oflabour for men and women, households with partners of the opposite sex were espe-cially invited to answer the questionnaire.

The research aimed for a sample of a few hundred respondents. They were to beapproached through firms with telecommuting projects. Addresses were obtainedthrough the Dutch Telewerkforum and furthermore, an announcement was put in themagazine Telewerken and on the website of Wageningen University. Of course, thedanger of bias is present: respondents might have specific characteristics, for instancethey are more likely to be young male highly educated professionals. As long as weknow the origin of the respondents (through their e-mail addresses, if communicated),we can determine any deviation from the average, provided we have information aboutthe profile of the population participating in telecommuting projects. In all surveys,people with definite opinions, either negative or positive, are more likely to fill inquestionnaires than others.

6.5. OperationalisationThe survey had to answer the research questions. For this purpose a questionnaire wasdevised, in which the central concepts of these questions were operationalised . theseconcepts have been elaborated in the theoretical framework – Chapters 2 to 5, but inparticular Chapter 4. For the operationalisation process, the scheme developed byBaarda and De Goede (1997) is used. To make the concepts measurable, complex con-cepts were divided into different elements. For each element, indicators were deter-mined, based on literature and the exploring phase of the research project.Subsequently, for each indicator, questions or statements were formulated to representvariables. The first column in this scheme contains the concept intended, the last col-


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umn is reserved for the concept defined. In Figure 6-1 an example of this process isgiven.

Figure 6–1: The operationalisation of the concept 'Appreciation of Greentown’

Concept Element Indicator Question/statemen/item VariableAnswering scale1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree

Apprecia-tion of

As a townto live in

Quality ofhouses

In Greentown there are many goodhouses

Apprecia-tion of

Greentown Price ofhouses

The houses in Greentown are rela-tively cheap

Greentown

Definition:degree of

Parking fa-cilities

In Greentown you can always parkyour car

Apprecia-tion by

Accessibility There are hardly any traffic jamsaround Greentown

Score = sumof scoresper item

Inhabitants … …As ashoppingcentre

Quantity ofshops

There are many shops in Greentown

Quality ofshops

There are many good shops in Green-town

… …As enter-tainmentcentre

Bar, pub There are many nice pubs in Green-town

Restaurant There is a good choice of restaurantsin Greentown

Cinema There are enough cinemas in Green-town

Theatre There is a good theatre in Greentown… …

Conceptintended

Operationalising Concept asdefined

Source: Baarda and De Goede 1997: 152

For the questionnaire, answer categories per question or statement had to be defined.These answer categories can be noted in the last column. Then the final questionnaireconsists of the last two columns of the scheme, according to the example in figure 6.2.The complete questionnaire, including the matching concepts, elements and indicators,is to be found in Appendix I.


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Figure 6–2: Part of the operationalisation process of this research

Concept Element Indicator Question/item/remark Answercategories

Household Composi-tion: size,demo-graphicdata

Respondents’characteristics

What is your age? …

Are you manwoman

The sections below describe the operationalisation of the concepts, needed to answerthe research questions. As already mentioned, these concepts are to be found in Chap-ter 4, Theoretical framework, following the aspects of the home economics model. Ifapplicable, notions from the other preceding chapters were included. The order belowis that of the questionnaire which is slightly different from the order in Chapter 4. First,household characteristics and facts about employment and telework situation are dis-cussed. Then, resources – property, use, and allocation of resources – are considered,followed by motives and opinions, expressions of the standard of care. The next sectiondescribes household activities, focusing on the division of labour, both external (be-tween household and market) as internal (between partners). This chapter ends with therespondents' own evaluation and applied strategies. The figures show the elements perconcept, followed by the indicators for each element. The last column, 'Ques-tion/item/remark’, gives a clarification, if necessary, or the essence of the question orstatement.

6.5.1. The householdThe first concept to be discussed was the household. It was expected that householdcharacteristics, as well as gender, influence attitudes towards telecommuting and theway household chores are executed. The elements composition, special characteristicsand the fact if other members of the household were telecommuting as well, were takeninto account.

Figure 6–3: Operationalisation of household

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkComposition Respondents’ characteristics Age, gender, marital status

Characteristics of other members ofthe family

Size of the household: number, ageand gender of members of thehousehold

Special characteris-tics

Special situation, illness or handi-cap

Personal circumstances influencingtelecommuting

Coinciding with other importantchanges

Birth of child, move, new job, etc.

Other members of thefamily

More telecommuters in the house-hold?


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6.5.2. Employment situationThe employment situation of the respondents was characterised by four elements: theircurrent employment situation, their telecommuting situation, their former situation andthe employment situation of members of the household. The type of work that tele-commuters do, determines their flexibility in allocating their time. It was assumed thatpeople with higher organisational positions and more education have more freedom inthis respect than employees with lower income and status. Education and income canbe indicators for autonomy, but are not exclusively so. Some administrative tasks canbe performed at indiscriminate moments, some managerial tasks are to a large degreetime-bound. Therefore, the extent of autonomy and flexibility were added as indicatorsfor the telecommuting situation. To describe the current employment situation somecharacteristics of the company – size and profit or non-profit – were added. This wasdone because literature suggested that big companies differ in their telecommutingpolicy from small companies.

It was assumed that the more hours a telecommuter is at home, the more this workwill affect the domestic pattern. Not only the amount of hours, but also the number ofdays over which telecommuters spread their work were supposed to be relevant. Fur-thermore, it seemed relevant if a telecommuter takes work home now and then, or on aregular basis. In the first case, the influence on the division of labour within the homewill probably be incidental as well. To complete the description of the telecommutingsituation, the duration of the telework situation was added as an indicator. Furthermore,the fact if the respondent is the only telecommuter is his or her work environment or iftelecommuting is a regular part of the work culture. Also relevant seems the locationwhere the telecommuter can work if not at home.

The main purpose of the survey was to discover changes as a result of telecommut-ing. To detect if observed changes really are the result of telecommuting, or caused byother changes, different questions were included in the questionnaire. One of the ele-ments of the employment situation was the former situation: how many hours did therespondent work in a paid job before the current situation?

Wheelock (1990) found that the amount of homework done by men was very muchrelated to the presence of their wives. Unemployed men tended to take over morehousehold chores when their wives were not at home. Therefore, the employmentsituation of other members of the family was included as an important element. Allelements and indicators of the employment situation are to be found in Figure 6–4.


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Figure 6–4: Operationalisation of employment situation

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkCurrent employmentsituation

Type of work, status Executive, managerial, profes-sional, policy maker, teacher,researcher, technician, sales per-son, administrative etc.

Income classEducation Primary school, lower vocational

training, etc.Size of companyCharacteristic of company Profit/non-profitHours employed

Telecommuting situa-tion

Since when telecommuting

Incidental or regularNumber of hours working at homeOn how many daysThe only telecommuter in com-pany or department or part of agroupLocation when not working athomeAutonomy Able to choose working hoursFlexibility Working on fixed hours

Former situation Work done before telecommutingSituation members ofthe family

Other members of the familyhaving paid jobs

If yes, number of hours

6.5.3. ResourcesAvailability of resourcesTelecommuters might have resources available that influenced their decision to work athome, or that influence household behaviour. The first element examined consisted oftechnical resources; indicators are the availability and financing of computer, printer,modem, mobile telephone, Internet-connection, etc. Another indicator was the influ-ence that the possession of resources exerted on the decision to start teleworking. Ad-ditionally, respondents were asked if they were using their equipment for privatepurposes, like schoolwork children, education adults, tele-banking and tele-shopping,communication with family and friends, volunteer work, hobby or sports.

The second element was accommodation. It was assumed that nice surroundingsand long commuting distances influenced telecommuting in a positive way. Location,degree of urbanisation, distance and travel time to employer's office, and mode oftransport, were considered to be indicators of accommodation:. Also, the size of thehouse itself and the availability of a separate work area, were examined as indicators ofthe living conditions. The degree of urbanisation was calculated on the basis of thecommunity, that respondents chose from a list. The Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics(CBS) has determined for every Dutch community the average number of addresses perkm². The density of environmental addresses represents the degree of concentration of


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human activities, like living, working, going to school, shopping, or going out (CBS2000).

Figure 6–5: Degree of urbanisation

Degree of urbanisation Density of environmental addressesNot urban < 500Little urban 500 – 1000Moderately urban 1000 – 1500Strongly urban 1500 – 2500Very strongly urban > 2500

Next to this objective measurement, respondents were asked about their subjectiveexperience. Possibly they lived in the outskirts of a strongly urbanised community andthought their environment was more rural than urban.

The third element attributed to resources was human capital, consisting of the indi-cators skills, motivation and knowledge. In the exploring phase of this research, theinterviewees mentioned that problems with the mastering of equipment sometimescomplicated the telecommuting. Two questions in this respect were included. The firstrelated to the knowledge and skills of respondents to master their equipment. The sec-ond asked if the employer offered enough support to solve problems.

Figure 6–6: Operationalisation of availability of resources

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkTechnical resources Availability and financing Are resources listed available; are

they paid by employer or respon-dent : PC, lap top, peripherals,telephones, connections, furnitureand work area, transportation

Influence Did the availability of technicalresources influence the decision tostart telecommuting

Other use Are the resources used for privateactivities (education, communica-tion, transactions)

Accommodation Location Degree of urbanisationDistance to employerFormer locationMode of transportDid housing conditions influencedecision

Size of house Number of roomsHuman capital Skills, motivation, knowledge of

respondentsEnough knowledge and skills atyour disposal to handle the tele-commuting hard- and software?

Support by employer


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Changes in allocation of resourcesNext to the availability of resources, the allocation of them as a consequence of tele-commuting was important for this research. Elements examined in this respect weretime and financial resources. Respondents were asked to indicate to what extent theychanged their expenditures of both time and finances since they were working at home– with a special focus on food, childcare, energy and communication. An open-endedquestion was added about other expenditures. Were there other things or activities thatgot more (or less) attention due to telecommuting: hobbies, for instance?

Figure 6–7: Operationalisation of changes in allocation of resources

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkAllocation of time andmoney

More/less time or money forhomemaking and family

Indicate for the listed activities ifyou spend less or more time ormoney on it since you are workingat home:Household chores in generalPaid domestic helpFood: eating out, conveniencefood, meals (eating / preparation)ChildcareElectricity, heating, telephoneShopping (total time, how manytimes)Other

6.5.4. Standard of careWithin the framework of this research standard of care was narrowed to four elements:family or career-orientation, task and time orientation, egalitarianism, and integrationor separation. Motives that referred to childcare, more time and attention for family,hobbies, the house and surroundings were an indication of a family-oriented attitude.These were:: 'Want to care for children myself', 'Can spend more time to household andfamily', 'Can better pursue hobby / sport', 'Parents should educate their children asmuch as possible', and 'Family and leisure time should come in the first place; workinghours are adjusted to that as much as possible'. Motives concerning better productivityin paid labour, better concentration etc. indicated a career-oriented attitude: 'Work bet-ter, more concentrated at home', 'Can determine own working tempo', 'Can determineown working hours', 'Paid labour comes in the first place; leisure time and family haveto be organised around that', 'Paid labour is a necessary evil; you need the money tolive'. The responses to the five statements for family orientation were combined intoone cumulative score. The same was done for career orientation, after having the laststatement recoded from low to high, because here 1 means a high degree of careerorientation.

Some of the motives could represent both. For instance, the advantage of planningone's own activities, flexibility in time and tempo can benefit the quality of the paid


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labour as well as the quality of daily non-work life. Other reasons for telecommuting,like 'no other jobs available', or 'no room in the office', and 'could not get along withcolleagues' did not have any relation with a family-oriented nor a career-oriented atti-tude.

Task and time orientation were determined by opinions concerning the value ofpaid labour and leisure time. The first question sought to establish if respondents esti-mate family and leisure time more or less important than paid labour. The second wasabout the judgement of paid labour: do respondents regard that as necessary evil ornot?

The degree of egalitarianism was measured by two indicators. First, the opinionsabout differences between men and women: 'Children benefit most from a mother whois there when they come home from school', 'A woman is more suitable to educatesmall children than a man', 'It is more important for a man to have a good job than fora woman'. Second, opinions about the sharing of labour between man and woman:'Man and woman should share domestic labour equally'; 'Childcare is equally the re-sponsibility of the man and the woman'; 'Man and woman should share paid labourequally'; 'The household is equally the responsibility of the man and the woman'. Acombination of these seven statements into one cumulative score – after having the firsttwo statements and the last one recoded in reverse order – indicated the degree ofegalitarianism.

The last element to be discussed is integration or separation. Opinions about thistopic might influence the actual division of labour when telecommuting and possiblyeven the decision to start telecommuting. The way telecommuters divide their time isprobably highly connected with their opinion about integration.

Figure 6–8: Operationalisation of standard of care

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkFamily or career orien-tation

Family-oriented motives for tele-commuting

Want to care for children myself

Can spend more time to householdand familyCan better pursue hobby / sport

Opinions representing a family-oriented attitude

Parents should educate their chil-dren themselves as much as possi-bleFamily and leisure time shouldcome in the first place; workinghours are adjusted to that as muchas possible

Career-oriented motives for tele-commuting

Work better, more concentrated athomeCan determine own workingtempoCan determine own working hours

Opinions representing a career-oriented attitude

Paid labour comes in the firstplace; leisure time and family haveto be organised around that


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Element Indicator Question/item/remarkPaid labour is a necessary evil; youneed the money to live

Other motives / motives repre-senting both categories

Childcare too expensive

Childcare not availableCould keep my job despite movingDifficult to work outside the homebecause of illness or handicapCould keep job despite moving ofthe companySave commuting timeCannot get along with colleaguesNo other job available

No room for me in the officeWhen men start telecommuting,they automatically take up morehousehold choresWhen women start telecommuting,they automatically take up morehousehold choresOther

Time or task orientation Opinions concerning paid andunpaid labour

Family and leisure time shouldcome in the first place; workinghours are adjusted to that as muchas possiblePaid labour is a necessary evil; youneed the money to live

Egalitarianism Opinions concerning differencesbetween men and women

Women can better raise smallchildren than menIt is more important for a man tohave a good job than for a womanChildren benefit most from amother who is there when theycome home from school

Opinions indicating degree ofegalitarianism (sharing)

Man and woman should sharedomestic labour equallyChildcare is equally the responsi-bility of the man and the womanMan and woman should share paidlabour equallyThe household is equally the re-sponsibility of the man and thewoman

Integration or separa-tion of work and home

Opinions concerning the separa-tion or integration of work andleisure time

Work and leisure time should beseparated as much as possible

By telecommuting, paid labour andchildcare can be combined


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6.5.5. Household activities: division of labourThe main research questions to be answered in the survey were: To what extent doesthe external division of labour and the internal division of labour change when peoplestart working at home? In this section the division of labour, and the domestic labouritself, will be operationalised.

External division of labourThe external division of labour – the division between paid and unpaid labour and be-tween outsourcing and self-supporting – might change when people start working athome. The answers to the questions asked in the section Employment situation gave aninsight into the division of paid labour among the members of the family. Questionsabout the application of resources and changes in household activities inform us aboutthe division between market and private household. In particular, questions on (paid)domestic help, food and paid childcare were important. These questions are discussedin section 6.5.3 (Resources) and will be included below (Internal division of labour).

Internal division of labourThe internal division of labour is the division of domestic tasks among members of thehousehold, in particular between partners. This research focused on the core activitiesof domestic labour, i.e. preparation of meals and washing dishes, cleaning, doing thelaundry; caring for other members of the family; shopping (De Hart 1995; Wheelock1990). Only daily, recurring tasks, which are possibly influenced by regular telecom-muting, were taken into account. Included were the five tasks of Wheelock's bench-mark, which were preparing the main meal, washing-up, washing, ironing andhoovering. In this research, ironing was combined with clearing away the laundry.Then three tasks concerning children were added: taking care of children, leisure ac-tivities with children and getting children from school. This last task was chosen, sinceprimary schools in the Netherlands end around three o'clock in the afternoon andschool busses are not very common. Picking children up at that time is not possiblewith a full-time job outside the home. The ninth task included was shopping. Wheelockleft this out of her benchmark, because shopping did – in her sample – not contribute tothe gender analysis of the regular tasks.

The emphasis was on the division of labour between partners. In 1990, the SCPfound considerable differences between men and women for those tasks (De Hart 1995;Table 6–1).


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Table 6–1: Time spent on different tasks

Man Woman Total Differencewomen/man2

Activities minutes1 minutes minutesCooking 93 282 188 3.0Setting/clearing table, dishes 40 115 78 2.9Sweeping / hoovering 25 144 85 5.8Laundry 10 68 39 6.8Clearing away the laundry 6 66 37 11.0Taking care for the children 17 51 34 3.0Leisure activities with children3 30 64 47 2.1Cycling/walking with children 3 26 15 8.7Daily shopping 32 59 45 1.81) SCP 1990 (De Hart 1995)2) Time of woman divided by time of man3) Added up the minutes of reading, playing indoors, walking with child

In order to get as much information as possible, very precise questions about actualactivities were asked. For instance, not: 'How do you divide tasks?' but: 'Who does thelaundry?' To investigate changes due to telecommuting, respondents were asked tocompare their current situation with the situation before they started working at home.Thus, respondents were asked to mark who was doing particular activities on days thetelecommuter worked at home. Who did them before he or she regularly worked athome, and who was doing it on the other days.

Figure 6–9: Operationalisation of internal division of labour

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkChanges in division ofdomestic labour

For all activities: who is doing iton home-working days, who doesit on other days and who did itbefore the start of telecommuting

Food preparation CookingDishes Doing the dishesCleaning Sweeping / hooveringLaundry Doing the laundry

Clearing away the laundryChildcare Taking care for the children

Leisure activities with the children(reading, walking, playing)Getting children from school

Shopping Daily shopping

6.5.6. AssessmentThe evaluation of the outcome of household behaviour – the comparison of standard ofcare with level of care – determines the extent of wellbeing in the household. In this


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research this question was narrowed to a subjective value judgement. Did respondentsvalue their current situation as an improvement or deterioration compared to their for-mer situation? Here two elements of standard of care return, namely family orientationand task/time orientation. Observed indicators were children, meals, the house, thespill-over and the integration or separation of paid and unpaid work. Figure 6–10shows the details.

Figure 6–10: Operationalisation of assessment of changes

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkFamily orientation Attention for the children Children get more attention

Food patterns I spend more time on mealsState of the house House and garden look betterSpill-over I have more attention for house-

hold chores and childcareI always see housework to be doneI pay too much attention to house-hold and familyBecause I am working at home, Iam (fortunately) always there formy housemates

Expectations of the environment I am always the one who has to doeverything in the house

Task or time orientation Paid work I do my paid job with more satis-factionI do my paid job less hurried (I donot count my hours so much, I paymore attention to quality)I do my paid job more efficiently

Domestic labour I do my domestic labour moreefficiently / systematicallyI do my domestic labour less sys-tematically because I can do it inbetween

Quality of house andhousing conditions

Living in beautiful house or nicesurroundings

It was possible (finally) to livewhere I wanted

Quality of daily life Integration It is good to get the best of bothworlds

Spill-over The whole family ‘works’ with meOther Telecommuting is not my first

choice, but the least bad in mycircumstances

6.5.7. Strategies: tuning actual and desired situationWhen a current situation is assessed as being negative, or not the desired situation,people can develop strategies to diminish the disadvantages and improve their situa-tion. Telecommuting itself can function as a strategy to change life. In Chapter 4(Theoretical framework), segmentation is described as the mostly use strategy to han-


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dle the effects of negative spill-over within the home. Four indicators for segmentationhave been considered: segmentation in space, in time, in resources and in agreementsand rules. Then, other strategies to limit disadvantages were observed. A third elementof strategies was the observation of telecommuting as a strategy itself.

Figure 6–11: Operationalisation of strategies

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkSegmentation In space Separate study for paid labour

In time Fixed working hoursIn resources Separate telephone line and an-

swering machineIn agreements, rules and behaviour Computer and telephone use

Other strategies to limitdisadvantages

Conditions that should be fulfilledto make it the ideal solutionStrategies to limit the disadvan-tages of telecommuting

What do respondents do to limitdisadvantages

Telecommuting as astrategy

Telecommuting makes a differentdivision of labour possible

Did respondents start telecom-muting to realise a different divi-sion of tasks

6.5.8. Concluding questionsThe questionnaire ended with two general evaluative remarks. Next to that, respon-dents were asked about their willingness to answer additional questions and if theywanted to be informed about results. In that case an e-mail address can be entered.

Figure 6–12: Concluding questions

Element Indicator Question/item/remarkGeneral questions General evaluation Does the respondent think that

telecommuting is idealRemarks about telecommuting orabout this research

Continuation Willingness to answer additionalquestionsInterest to be kept informed

6.6. Data collection

6.6.1. The techniqueAs described in section 6.3 the survey was presented on the Internet. It was most suit-able to choose an address at Wageningen University, because of its impression of reli-ability and credibility bestowed. The questionnaire itself was transformed to an


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HTML-form, linked to a database in which the answers were gathered. The question-naire consisted of one single file, which had the advantage that it could easily be savedon disk or printed out. Also, the Internet-connection could be interrupted while fillingin the questionnaire. When the respondent was ready and clicked the ‘send’-button,most browsers automatically re-established the connection. In this way costs could besaved when respondents made use of a telephone connection to the Internet. Since theanswers were stored in a database, a simple conversion to a statistical program sufficedto make the data available for analysis.

6.6.2. Approaching respondentsAs described in section 6.4, respondents were approached via organisations that hadtelecommuting employees. Addresses were obtained from the Dutch Telewerkforum.The firms were either member of the Association Telewerkforum, or had shown theirinterest in telecommuting. Fifty organisations were approached. They received a letterand, two weeks later, a telephone call. If that did not result in contact with the rightperson, there was follow-up with an e-mail. Though numbers of telecommuters and offirms with telecommuting employees are said to have increased, the reactions were alittle disappointing. Many of the approached firms appeared to have no teleworkersthemselves. Some of them were participating in the Telewerkforum because they ex-pected to sell products and services to telecommuters. Others were, at the time, juststarting with telecommuting and did not have experience yet. Then, there were firmsthat were in the process of research themselves and were afraid that this research wouldconflict with theirs, or that their employees would be tired of yet another survey.

In the autumn of 1999 approximately twenty companies – varying in size from lessthan ten employees to big consultancy firms – were willing to co-operate with the re-search. These companies put the Internet address of the questionnaire on their websiteor Intranet, or they sent a message to all telecommuters to bring the questionnaire totheir attention. It goes without saying that all participating companies emphasised thatparticipation of their employees was voluntary. Further to that, the address was pub-lished in the magazine Telewerken and on the website of Wageningen University.

Within a month, some 40 questionnaires were returned. In April 2000 this numberraised to 80, climbing slowly to 90 in October 2000. By that time it was decided toorganise a second round of acquisition. Remarkably enough, willingness to co-operateappeared to be greater than the year before. With less effort more respondents from asmaller number of firms filled in the questionnaire. This time, there were again con-sultancy firms, but also a large institute for higher education took part. From the latter,the researcher received many e-mails, stating that sender was not part of the targetgroup, but nevertheless was interested in the research. This type of e-mail doubled thenumber of real respondents from the same institute. In December 2000 142 valid ques-tionnaires were returned, rising to 171 in February 2001. Chapter 7 (Results) is basedon those 171 cases.


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6.7. Methods of data analysisThe methods by which survey data were analysed were, of course, determined andlimited by the objectives of the research, the form of the questionnaire, and the numberof respondents. The survey is a sample survey with a limited number of respondents.The measurement of most variables is at a nominal or an ordinal level. The data pro-vided frequencies and could be combined in cross-tabulation to detect differences be-tween different groups of respondents. The following paragraphs give a summary ofthe statistical operations.

The report of results starts with a description of the respondents: frequencies (per-centages) of men and women, frequencies of respondents in certain income classes,sizes of households, respondents' ages, and hours worked inside and outside the home,distance to employer's office. In most cases this concerns simple counts. Only the vari-ables of age and distance had to be recoded. Ages and distances were indicated in yearsand kilometres. A simple listing of those results did not give much information, there-fore answers were divided into classes. For age this study follows the division used bythe Dutch Central Statistical Office (CBS) to classify the working population. Usingthe same classes made the results comparable with general statistics for the Nether-lands. For distances, the classes were based on the division of respondents: each quar-tile was recoded into one class. The first class was up to ten kilometres, a distancegenerally considered small enough to travel by bicycle.

For many variables, a five-point scale was used, ranging from very unimportant tovery important, or from strong disagreement to strong agreement. Because of the rela-tively small number of respondents, but also for convenience of comparison, thesescales were recoded into a three-point scale, combining the categories of ‘unimportant’and ‘very unimportant’, and lik ewise of ‘important’ and ‘very important’.

Since research questions and hypotheses referred to differences between men andwomen, for most questions these differences were made visible by means of cross-tabulations. Cross-tabulations were also used to detect differences between respondentswho answered 'yes' or 'no', between families with or without children, and betweenhouseholds with younger or older children. To test the likelihood that observed differ-ences were not based on chance, the Chi-square test was used. When this test returneda probability (p) smaller than 0.01 the results were regarded as statistically highly sig-nificant. A probability between 0.01 and 0.05 was chosen to indicate statistically sig-nificant differences. For a probability larger than 0.05, but smaller than 0.1, the resultwas regarded to be indicative. However, it should be noted that this choice not only�� !��"��#�%$&� �� '(�*) ��+��#�%$��*� ,!�!�.- / 021�3�3�4�3+5+687"9":<;�:>=!?�@A4B�C�D�C�E�FG�H C�I>D�J CLK*J%M*H K!C.N�O�EPD�J CQE�C2RSC!K�D�GTO�HUO�NVE�C!M!WXB�G�N�N2C*E�C*H K*C�IZY [ \2]*^�^+_�^+`Aacb(dfe�g h�i>^�]�iA]kj*^�l*gmjvast number of relations is tested, so there is a possibility that some of the found rela-tions are in reality non-existing, or that differences that did not show a statisticallysignificant relationship are real differences. More research would be needed to furtherprove the significance – or non-significance – of such results.

For family and career orientation, time and task orientation and egalitarianism anew variable was devised by combining the answers into one cumulative score (seesection 6.5.4). This cumulative score could rank from 1 to 25 – when five statementswere combined – or from 1 to 35 in the case of egalitarianism, for which seven state-ments were combined. In order to keep the number of cells limited, these scores were


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divided into four classes, ranking from a low degree of family-orientation (scores up to6) to a high degree of family-orientation(scores 19 and higher). The scores for careerorientation and egalitarianism were processed in the same manner. The combination ofseveral items into one score is acceptable when those items measure the same concept,i.e. when they are homogeneous. This homogeneity was tested with the Cronbach'salpha test.

To indicate how symmetrical or asymmetrical the actual division of labour was, theanswers concerning the internal division of labour were combined. Assuming that allpartners of male respondents were female and all partners of female respondents weremale – because the introduction of the survey asked for heterosexual couples – for eachrespondent the number of tasks performed by males and females could be counted. Formale respondents the number of tasks performed by himself were added; for femalerespondents the number of tasks performed by her partner. The same was done forwomen. Next to that, the number of tasks performed together were also counted anddivided between males and females. It could be argued that here a proportional attribu-tion should be made. It is reasonable to think, that in a very asymmetrical household,joint performance of tasks will in fact mean an asymmetrical performance as well.When men think they do the task together in a situation in which the woman does mostof the work, the contribution of the man in that specific task is, possibly, disproportion-ally small. Since the survey did not ask how much time was spent on each task, nor theintensity and weight of each task, this assumption cannot be substantiated. Thereforetasks performed by both partners together, were evenly divided between the two.

The task count resulted in two figures per household, both ranking from 0 to 9, thatindicated the number of tasks performed by the man, respectively the woman. The nextstep was to define the difference between them. The number of tasks performed by theman was subtracted from the number of tasks performed by the woman. A score be-tween –1 and +1 indicated a symmetrical division of tasks. A negative score suggestedthat the man did most of the tasks. A high positive score represented an asymmetricaldivision in a traditional direction: the woman doing the most. A comparison of thesesymmetry scores before and after the start of telecommuting clarified the direction ofchanges on a household level. When the scores stayed the same, the symmetry stayedthe same. If the result was positive (meaning: the traditional asymmetry was biggerbefore telecommuting than after), then the household shifted to a more symmetricaldivision of labour. For a negative result, the division of labour within the householdbecame more asymmetrical.

In Chapter 8 (Conclusions), discussing the hypotheses, the answers 'before' and 'af-ter' are not compared per household, but per task, reviewing all households together.The frequencies of respondents indicating performance of the mentioned tasks onhome-working days were divided by the frequencies before they started telecommut-ing. This was done for all respondents, and for male and female respondents separately.The result was a figure that indicated how many more respondents were performingthese tasks on home-working days.

Results of the survey

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7. Results of the survey

This chapter gives an overview of the results of the survey, starting with general char-acteristics of the respondents’ household and employment situation, their resources,and their motives and opinions. The subsequent sections give an answer to the researchquestions: to what extent does the external and the internal division of labour changeand which strategies do telecommuters apply to diminish possible disadvantages oftelecommuting? The internal division of labour – the main subject of this survey – willbe related to characteristics discussed in section 7.1. The chapter concludes with asummary of the results, leading to rejection or support of the hypotheses.

7.1. Respondents' characteristicsRespondents of the survey can be characterised by general characteristics (age, size andstage in life-cycle of household), employment situation (type and number of hoursworked, income) and education. These characteristics are presented in section 7.1.1.The subsequent section 7.1.2 discusses resources that respondents have at their dis-posal. The normative context – motives and opinions, attitudes – is the subject of sec-tion 7.1.3.

7.1.1. General characteristicsHousehold characteristicsThe survey yielded 171 valid questionnaires. Most respondents (100) were male, therest were female (71). The average age was 42 years old; the youngest being 18, theoldest 71 years old. Half of the respondents were aged between 35 and 49 years. Com-paring these ages with averages in Dutch labour force, respondents over 40 were rela-tively over-represented. In Chapter 6, Methodological aspects, it was indicated thatInternet users are mostly under 33 years old. This research gave no evidence that tele-commuters belonged predominantly to that age group.


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Table 7–1: Age of respondents in this research and in the Netherlands

Man Women TotalResearch GC1

(n = 100)CBS 19972

(7.5 million)GC

(n = 71)CBS 1997

(7.5 million)GC

(n = 171)CBS 1997(15 million)

Age % % % % % %<19 3 1 4 1 320-24 5 8 1 12 4 1025-39 33 44 39 47 36 4540-49 33 26 41 25 36 2650-64 27 18 17 12 23 1665> 2 1 - 0 1 11) This research2) CBS 1997 (Statline 2001) represents total labour force.

Ninety percent of the respondents lived with a partner, married or otherwise. This wasa high percentage, but not surprising since the introduction of the questionnaire in-formed readers about the target group, being households of at least two persons. Theaverage household size of respondents was 3.6. The average Dutch household is 2.4persons in 1997 (CBS 2000). The average size of households with children is 3.7 per-sons (Volkskrant 21 March 2001).

Figure 7–1: Size of households in percentages of total

In 72 households there were children under 4 years old, in 64 households there werechildren between 4 and 12 years old; in 32 cases there were children older than 12years. In 62 households - one third of the sample – there were no children under 18 atall. Female respondents did not report noticeably different numbers of children in theirhouseholds than male respondents. On the contrary, there seemed to be more house-

-

5

10

15

20

25

perc

enta

ges

of re

spon

dent

s

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

persons per household


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holds with children among the male telecommuters (68 percent as against 58 percent ofthe households with a female respondent), but these differences were not statisticallysignificant.

Employment situation and educationIncome and education of the respondents was above average. Most of them earnedmore than 1600 Euros a month, half of the respondents earned between 1600 and 3000Euros, almost a quarter earned 3400 or more. They also had a high level of education,85 percent received higher vocational training or university. There were no significantdifferences between men and women concerning income. However, men did have asignificantly higher level of education than women. In particular, they were more oftengraduates of higher vocational training. Chi-square calculations for these educationaldifferences were 22.1 (df = 2, p nporq ots�uAqkvxw%y�z|{�}�y�~%w��%��}��"z(yV�%�!�.��}*��}!�*�"z�� }�~%w%yA��z��Tw��w�{were a researcher, or a teacher. Only ten percent had an administrative occupation.They worked in substantial part-time, or almost full-time, jobs though women workedfewer hours than men. This difference between men and women was statistically sig-nificant (Table 7–2). The respondents in this research, in particular the female respon-dents, worked more hours in their paid jobs than the average for Dutch women. Theaverage in the Netherlands is 16.6 hours per week for women and 43.4 for men (Keu-zenkamp et al 2000). Most respondents lived with someone with a job. Only 22 percentwere the only income earner in the household, including the 10 percent single respon-dents; 30 percent of the households could be described as one-and-a-half-earner house-holds − with one (almost) full-time and one part-time job − and 48 percent of therespondents lived in a double income household, both partners having a fulltime oralmost fulltime job.

Table 7–2: Working hours of paid jobs

Gender Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Hours paid job % % %No answer 3 4 40-8 hours 4 1 39-16 hours - 4 217-24 hours 1 20 925-32 hours 8 41 22>33 hours 84 30 61Chi2 = 62.7, df =5, p �<�!� �"�S�At the moment the respondents filled in the questionnaire, they worked at home sincealmost 4 years on average. More than one fifth, 22 percent, started telecommuting lessthan a year before. Another 21 percent worked at home one or two years, while 22percent worked at home already more than five years. The maximum number of yearsthat someone worked at home, was 22 years.

Most of the respondents, 75 percent, worked less than 16 hours per week at home,only 6 percent worked more than 24 hours per week at home. They spread their home-work over one to five days a week. A reasonably high percentage, 27 percent, workedat home on five successive days, even when these respondents had small jobs. More


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men worked at home between 9 and 16 hours per week. Differences between men andwomen were statistically significant for the number of hours worked. Regarding thenumber of days over which the work is spread, the gender differences were not statisti-cally significant (see Table 7–3).

These results correspond with observations in Chapter 2 (Telework), in which it wasindicated that telecommuting shows a variety of forms. They also correspond with theoutcome of the IDC-survey (Vernooij en Casimir 1996), especially for women. Then,the majority worked at home one or two days per week, 41 percent worked at home 1-7hours and 38 percent 8-20 hours per week. Almost no one worked at home 21-34hours, and around 12 percent over 35 hours per week.

Table 7–3: Hours and days worked at home; percentages of total respondents

Hours worked at home0-8 9-16 17-24 25-32 >33

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total2

(n = 171)Days per week % % % % % % % %1 15 1 - - 1 16 17 162 12 13 1 - - 29 21 263 3 11 6 - - 18 21 194 2 6 2 - - 9 11 105 4 7 11 3 2 27 27 27Men (n = 100) 32 46 19 2 100Women (n = 71) 41 28 20 7 4 100Total (n = 171)1 36 39 19 3 3 1001) Chi2 for hours worked at home related to gender = 12.8, df = 5, p ��k� �k�!�2) Chi2 for days worked at home related to gender = 2.2, df = 5, not significant.

The telecommuting situation was not only defined by the number of hours worked athome, but also by some other characteristics. Respondents were asked to indicate ifthey worked with or without a written contract, and if they took work home regularlyor irregularly (Table 7–4). Almost 20 percent of them took work home now and then,over 40 percent worked at home on a regular basis, of whom 19 percent had a writtenagreement. Women had a written agreement more often than men and the differencebetween the two was statistically significant.

Table 7–4: Telecommuting situation

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Telecommuting situation % % %Take work home now and then 21 14 18Work on fixed days, on the basis of an oral agreement 30 23 27Work on fixed days, with written agreement 10 31 19Differently 39 32 36Chi2 = 12.2, df = 3, p ≤ 0.01.

One third of the respondents (39%) made arrangements other than the options listed inthe question. Their answers showed a high degree of diversity, varying from 'Takework home now and then', 'Dependent on projects or schedule', 'Work at home on eve-


141

nings' to 'Work at home regularly at irregular hours'. Many respondents appeared to beflexible in the way they organised their home-working activities. This corresponds withthe answers to another question: 'Are you free to determine your own working hours'.The majority − 78 percent − stated that they could choose their own working hours,with men being able to do this more often than women. Differences were statisticallysignificant (see Table 7–5). Women worked more often in administrative functions orwere telephonists, which might explain the differences in freedom. The 11 percent ofrespondents who said they could partly determine their own working hours, indicated,for instance, that they had to be reachable at certain periods of time (office hours).Many respondents remarked on their freedom to organise their own work, and aboutthe irregularity and diversity of the work. Flexibility seemed to be a daily routine forthose telecommuters. Only a few respondents (7%) were the only telecommuter in theirdepartment. The rest were divided over companies where less than half of the employ-ees worked at home (48%), and companies (or departments) in which more than halfwere telecommuters (42%).

Table 7–5: Can you determine your own working hours?

Gender Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Determining own working hours % % %Yes 89 63 78No 2 18 9Partly 6 18 11No answer 3 - 2Total 100 100 100Chi2 = 23.9, df = 3, p ≤ 0.01.

7.1.2. ResourcesIn Chapter 6, Methodological aspects, three types of resources were discerned: thetechnical resources, accommodation and human capital. Next to that, the allocation oftime and money was included. These elements will be discussed below.

Technical resourcesMost telecommuters, 78 percent, owned a personal computer, 35 percent owned a laptop computer. A combination of these answers reveals that 90 percent had either a laptop, or a PC, or both and 10 percent had no computer at all. When using a strict defini-tion of telecommuting, this latter group should be excluded, because they do not makeuse of modern information and communication technology. The called themselvestelecommuters because they worked at a distance, using a telephone for their work. In1997, 43 percent of Dutch households owned a PC, so the number of PCs is well aboveaverage. Table 7–6 shows which equipment the respondents had at their disposal, dif-ferentiated between male and female respondents. Significantly more men than womenhad a mobile telephone, a lap top computer and a printer. More than half of the respon-dents – 64 percent of men and 49 percent of women – had an Internet connection. Dif-


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ferences were not more than indicative. Men were more likely to have an analogue faxmachine. They seemed to have more scanners, photocopiers and Internet connectionsthan women, but here the results were only indicative and would need larger number totest for statistical significance. The other differences between men and women werenot statistically significant.

More than half of the respondents, 53 percent, had either a separate telephone lineor an ISDN-connection or both. Remarkably few respondents – less than 35 percent –reported having a car, while 76 percent of Dutch households and 38 percent of personsgenerally have one or more cars (CBS, Statline 2000). However, this could be a resultof the way the question was phrased. Respondents were asked: 'What do you have atyour disposal in favour of your telecommuting job?' So there might be cars, that are notused for the job. That fewer women than men reported to have cars – 23 percent ofwomen and 42 percent of men − is in accordance with general figures. In 1998, 57percent of the men and 52 percent of women went by car to their work (Sinkeldam enGroot 2001). When there is one car in a family, this car is often used by the male part-ner (Droogleever Fortuijn 1993).

Next to possession, Table 7–6 indicates who was covering the expenses of thisequipment: the employer, the respondent or both. In 70 percent of the cases , the em-ployers paid for the lap top computer. The PC was only reimbursed in 45 percent of thecases. In 12 percent of the cases the employer contributed to the costs of the PC. Ifspecial software was needed, the employer paid for it in 69 percent of the cases. In 67percent of the cases the employer paid for a separate telephone line. Mobile telephoneswere paid for by the employers in 56 percent of the cases. Contributions to the costs ofa study, heating, or the installation of additional power points were hardly ever made.Nearly one third of the employers (32%) supplied extra furniture – when needed – andanother 12 percent contributed to the costs of it. Internet connections are in 41 percentat the expense of employers.


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Table 7–6: Possession and financing of equipment and facilities

Available Paid byTotal

(n = 171)Men

(n = 100)Women(n = 71)

Employer Self Both

Equipment and facilities % % % Significance1 %2 %2 %2

Computer (PC) 78 79 76 n.s. 45 43 12Printer 76 84 65 p � 0.01 37 55 8Separate study 64 63 65 n.s. 1 97 3Furniture 63 65 61 n.s. 32 56 12Internet connection 58 64 49 0.05 �� 0.1 41 49 10Heating 56 58 52 n.s. 3 91 7ISDN 49 50 47 n.s. 54 37 9Connections (electricity) 47 49 45 n.s. 5 92 3Scanner 39 45 31 0.05 �� 0.1 19 74 7(Fax) modem 39 41 35 n.s. 33 59 7Mobile phone 37 46 24 p � 0.01 56 39 4Lap top 35 47 18 p � 0.01 70 28 2Car 34 42 23 p � 0.01 29 54 16Separate telephone line 28 25 32 n.s. 67 25 8Special software 23 25 20 n.s. 69 24 7Answering machine 23 25 21 n.s. 7 91 2Fax (analogue) 22 29 13 p � 0.05 52 48Photocopier 11 15 6 0.05 �� 0.1 39 52 9Public transport seasonticket

7 5 10 n.s. 43 36 21

Other 6 5 7 n.s. 10 80 101) Chi2 is calculated for gender and owners (yes/no); df = 12) Percentages of owners.

For 33 percent of the respondents, the availability of a separate work area did influencetheir decision to start working at home. The availability of (Internet) connectionsplayed a role for 32 percent of the respondents. The availability of hard- and softwareinfluenced this decision even more: 44 percent of the respondents answered affirmativeto this question.

Most respondents, 80 percent, used their computer for other activities than work(Table 7–7). Examples were volunteer work, hobbies or sports, and communicationwith friends and relatives. The latter was – with over 54 percent of respondents – mostpopular. Women seemed to use their computer more for that reason, but with thesenumber of cases this outcome was not statistically significant. Men used the computermore often for tele-banking or tele-shopping and for volunteer work than women. Also,the children of home-working men, used the equipment more for their homework, thanthe children of female respondents.


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Table 7–7: Use of facilities for other purposes

Gender Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Signifi-cance1

Purpose % % %Correspondence with family / acquaintances 52 58 54 n.s.Tele-banking, tele-shopping (for private purposes) 50 32 43 p � 0.05Hobby, sports 44 41 43 n.s.Volunteer work 46 27 38 p � 0.05Homework children 34 13 25 p � 0.01Education adults 18 10 15 n.s.Chi2 is calculated for differences between men and women per item; df = 1.

AccomodationIt was assumed that pleasant surroundings and distance from workplace influencedtelecommuting in a positive way. Indicators of accommodation were: location, urbani-sation, distance and travel time to employer's office, and mode of transport. Also thehouse itself – size, availability of a separate study – was regarded to be an indicator ofthe living conditions.

Two thirds of the respondents, 68 percent, had houses of five rooms or more, andanother 22 percent lived in houses of four rooms. Employers' offices were at a distanceof 40 km on average – 41 km for men and 38 km for women – and 45 minutes from thehomes of the telecommuters, with a maximum of 231 km. Women were over-represented in the smaller distances, though differences with men were only indicativeand not statistically significant. Compared with the average Dutch commuting distanceof 17.4 km, the respondents lived far from their work. In the Netherlands, women liveon average 5 kilometres closer to their work than men (Sinkeldam en Groot 2001). Inthis research the difference is 3 kilometres. In 30 percent of the cases, the distance towork increased after the start of telecommuting. When the telecommuters in this wentto their employer's office, 59 percent of them used a car or motorbike, 19 percent madeuse of public transport and the rest (18%) walked or went by bicycle. Of course, thepeople who walked or cycled lived closer to their work: 52 percent of the respondentswho lived within 10 km from their employer’s office, went their walking or by bicycle.These figures are presented in Table 7-8.

In this research there were no statistically significant differences between men andwomen in their choice of transportation. Corresponding figures for Dutch population in1998 were 57 percent of men and 52 percent of women using a car to go to work, 28percent of men and 33 percent of women walk or use a bicycle and 8 percent of menand 12 percent of women use public transport. Most of those who walk or cycle to theirwork, live within a radius of 5 km (Sinkeldam en Groot 2001). In the current research60 percent of the respondents who walked or used the bicycle to go to work lived 5 kmor less from their employer, 20 percent between 5 and 10 km.


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Table 7–8: Distance to employer's office

Gender1 Mode of transportMen

(n=100)Women(n=71)

Total(n=171) Walking /

bicycleMotor

(bike) / carPublic

transportNo an-swer4

Total(n=171)Distance to

employer'soffice %2 %2 %2 %3 %3 %3 %3 %<10km 21 37 27 52 28 7 13 10011-30km 31 18 26 14 75 11 10031-55km 22 23 22 - 68 32 100>56km 26 23 25 - 67 29 5 100Total 100 100 100 18 59 19 5 1001) Chi2 for differences between men and women = 6.5, df = 3, p �Z�!� �!��k�V ��k�T¡t¢�£ �!�*£�¤ ative).2) Percentages of column totals (men/women/total).3) Percentages of row totals (mode of transport).4) Including respondents who indicated that they never work at their employer’s office.

Despite relatively large commuting distances, the living conditions played hardly anyrole in the decision-making process to work at home. At least, this was what 71 percentof the respondents reported. Women's answers were not notably different from those ofmale telecommuters. However, within the group of respondents for whom living con-ditions did play a role, two third (64%) lived more than 30 km from their employer'soffice. This outcome was statistically significant. The crosstabulation (Table 7–9) of'Commuting distance' and 'Did living conditions play a role' returned a Chi-squarevalue of 19.5, df = 3, p ¥p¦r§ ¦t¨�§

Table 7–9: Did living conditions play a role, related to commuting distance

Did living conditions play a role Totalyes no

Commuting distance n % n % n %<10km 8 17 38 31 46 2711-30km 9 19 35 29 44 2631-55km 10 21 28 23 38 22>56km 20 43 22 18 42 25Total 47 100 123 100 170 100Chi2 = 12.0, df = 3, p �� "¡Another question referred to the extent of urbanisation around the respondent's home.The assumption was that people in areas with a low degree of urbanisation would bemore inclined to work at home than people in more urban areas. The degree of urbani-sation was calculated (see Chapter 6, Methodological aspects). Relating this urbanisa-tion measure to the role played by living conditions in the decision to work at home,gave no evidence for this assumption. However, the calculated measure of urbanisationwas not necessarily the same as respondents’ perception of urbanisation. It might be sothat respondents perceived their surroundings as less urbanised than indicated by thecalculated measure. It was, for instance, possible that they lived on the outskirts of abigger community. This supposition, however, did not prove to be true. Table 7–10shows the small differences between the calculated and the perceived degree of urbani-sation.


146

Table 7–10: Degree of calculated and perceived urbanisation

Calculated degree ofurbanisation (n = 1611)

Perceived degree ofurbanisation (n = 171)

Degree of urbanisation % %Not or little urban 25 27Moderately urban 31 32Very urban 44 401) Not all respondents indicated where they lived.

Human capitalTwo questions were asked on the subject of human resources,. One was about theknowledge and skills of the respondents, the other one about the support of the em-ployer. A large majority of the respondents (91%) felt they had enough knowledge andskills to handle their equipment. The majority – 73 percent of women and 58 percent ofmen, 64 percent of total – was satisfied with the support of their employer. Neverthe-less, using the opportunity to comment on these questions, remarks were made like: 'Ihave just enough skills', or: 'It is better now than in the beginning'. Also, some respon-dents said that they could manage, not because of sufficient support of their employer,but thanks to the help of colleagues.

Allocation of resourcesWithin the framework of the current research, the allocation of resources has beenlimited to the changes in expenditures, in both time and money since respondentsstarted telecommuting. The questions concentrated on household chores in general, onpaid domestic help, food, childcare, electricity and telephone and shopping. The resultsof these questions are presented in Table 7–11. The division of time among membersof the family will be discussed in relation to the division of labour in section 7.3.

Almost one quarter of the respondents, 23 percent, reported an increase in timespent on domestic labour. More women (14%) than men (4%) indicated to spend lesstime on household chores since working at home. However, these differences wereonly indicative (0.05 ©«ªf©m¬r�®°¯A�±|²�³V´ ²�µ ¶A·*´ ²�¸T¹%¶»º ¼�½�´¾¶�¿LÀ!¸�¸tÁ*´%¼�¸�¹�³�·�ÂcÃ|Ä�¬�ª ·*³�Ák·*Â"½XÂ ²�½�·!¹an increase in household chores. Of all respondents, 11 percent spent more time on thepreparation of meals. This applied more to women than to men. Eleven percent spentmore time on the meals themselves; in households with children also 11 percent spentless time on meals, against an average of 6 percent spending less time. Ten percent hadmore expenditures on food. Here, women seemed to score higher too, but numbers aretoo small for statistical significance.


147

Table 7–11: Changes in time and expenditures since working at home

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Households w.children < 4

(n =72)

Total(n = 171)

Spending time/money on… % %1

Significancegender2

%1

Significancechildren3

%more 24 23 0.05 ÅÇÆÈÅ8É°Ê Ë 30 n.s. 23same1 72 63 63 68

Household chores

less 4 14 8 8more 8 9 n.s. 11 n.s 8same 91 90 88 . 91

Paid domestichelp

less 1 1 1 1more 6 6 n.s. 4 n.s. 6same 92 90 93 91

Eating out (ex-penditures)

less 2 4 3 3more 3 9 4 n.s. 5same 93 85 89 90

Convenience food


Food(expenditures)

less 3 3 4 3more 10 11 n.s. 11 p Ì�ÍÏÎ ÍSÐ 11same 85 82 78 84

Meals (time)

less 5 7 11 6more 11 17 p Ì�ÍÏÎ ÍSÐ 13 n.s. 14same 87 73 83 81

Preparation ofmeals (time)

less 2 10 4 5more 7 10 n.s. 15 p Ì 0.01 8same 86 78 68 83

Childcare (hours)

less 7 13 17 9more 6 9 n.s. 13 p Ì 0.01 7same 87 80 72 84

Childcare(expenditures)

less 7 12 15 9more 34 18 p Ì�ÍÏÎ ÍkÑ 46 p Ì 0.01 28same 57 79 46 66

Children (time)

less 9 3 8 6more 33 17 p Ì�ÍÏÎ ÍSÐ 43 p Ì 0.01 26same 60 80 50 68

Children(attention)


Electricity


Heating


Telephone


Shopping (totaltime)


Shopping (timesper week)

less 3 7 4 51) ‘same’ means no changes, including ‘no answer’.2) Chi2 for differences between men and women; df = 2.3) Chi2 for differences between households with and without children under 4 years old.


148

Substantial changes were shown regarding children: 28 percent of the respondentsindicated that they spent more time on children, and 26% spent more attention on chil-dren. For male respondents the impact of telecommuting was bigger than for females:34 percent of the male and 18 percent of the female respondents spent more time onchildren. For attention these figures were 33 percent for men and 17 percent forwomen. These statements were, of course, only applicable for households with chil-dren. Almost half of the households (46%) with children under 4 years noted that theyspent more time on them and 43 percent indicated paying more attention since tele-commuting. In households with children under 18, this was still 41 percent and 39percent. A slight decrease in time and money for childcare was noticeable. In 17 per-cent of the households with small children a reduction in hours childcare was men-tioned, and 15% of these households reported a reduction in expenditures on childcare.These differences with households without young children were statistically significant(p ÒÔÓrÕ ÓtÖ�×ØÕÇÙ�Ú�Û�ÜÞÝ�ß à�áâß à!ã�ä Ú"äZÝ�ß Ü¾Û�Ü�å�æ Ú�á ç"Ü*á"Ý(å.á ÚèÝ�Ükçxà*áêé�á ë*Û�Ü!à!åØÜUé#áìÜ*í�æ�Ü*á ç�é�Ý�î�Û�Ü�å�Ú�áelectricity (59%), heating (52%) and telephony (53%). Eight percent said they spentmore time on shopping, whilst 12 percent went out for errands more often.

There was no statistically significant relation with the increase in domestic tasksand the amount of time worked at home. Surprisingly, the 'heavy' telecommuters(working at home more than 16 hours per week) showed a smaller increase in domesticchores than those who worked at home less than 16 hours. The same applied for re-spondents who spread their telecommuting tasks over more days a week. The greatestincrease was indicated by those who worked at home one or two days. Also, the big-gest increase was shown among respondents in whose household there was no otherhome-worker.

7.1.3. Motives and opinionsIn Chapter 6 (Methodological aspects), four elements of standard of care are defined:family or career orientation, degree of egalitarianism, task or time orientation and thewish to integrate or separate home and work. Next to that, some elements of standardof care have been discussed, that are no indication of one of these attitudes in particu-lar.

Family orientationTable 7–12 shows the answers to the questions and statements concerning family ori-entation. As discussed in Chapter 6 (Methodological aspects), these answers could becombined into one score. A homogeneity test with Cronbach's alpha returned an alphavalue of 0.59. According to Baarda and De Goede (1997) this is an acceptable score forcomplex concepts. That means that a combined score of family orientation could bedevised. This score is presented in Table 7–13.


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Table 7–12: Family oriented motives and opinions

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Motives to work at home % % %Want to care for my children myself p ï 0.05

important 36 52 43 not important / not unimportant 36 15 28 unimportant 28 33 30

More time for housekeeping and family n.s. important 43 45 44 not important / not unimportant 28 33 30 unimportant 29 22 26

Can better practice hobby or sports n.s. important 13 20 16 not important / not unimp. 14 10 13 unimportant 72 69 71

Parents should educate their children themselves as much as possible p ï 0.01 agree 74 54 66 neutral 19 23 20 disagree 7 23 14

Family and leisure time should come in the first place;working hours are adjusted to that as much as possible

n.s.

agree 26 31 28 neutral 35 38 37 disagree 39 31 35

1) Chi2 is calculated for differences between men and women; df = 2.

From the exploratory investigation in 1996, it was expected that women would show ahigher degree of family orientation and men a higher degree of career orientation. Inthe IDC-survey, 10 percent of the main breadwinners (most of whom males) and 30percent of the second income earners (most of whom were females) thought ‘Gainingtime for family and housekeeping’ an important motive to work at home. In the survey,men and women did not answer differently to this item, and the percentage of respon-dents who found this important was much higher: 44 percent. More than half of therespondents, 60 percent, had a fairly high or high degree of family orientation. Themale respondents scored with 61 percent slightly higher on family orientation than thefemale respondents with 58 percent, but these differences were not statistically signifi-cant (Table 7–13).

Table 7–13: Family orientation, combined score

Men(n = 98)

Women(n = 64)

Total(n = 1622)

Family orientation1 % % %Low degree of family orientation 7 8 7Reasonable degree of family orientation 32 34 33Fairly high degree of family orientation 55 52 54High degree of family orientation 6 6 6Total 100 100 1001) Chi2 = 0.20; df = 3; p > 0.1 (not significant).2) Not every respondent answered all questions.


150

Career orientationThe answers to motives and opinions concerning career orientation are presented inTable 7–14. The combined score for career orientation − presented in Table 7–15 −returned an alpha value of 0.45 on the homogeneity test (Cronbach's alpha). This lowscore means that respondents who scored high on one item, might have scored low onanother one in the same category. When for career orientation only three items werecombined ('Work better, more concentrated at home'; 'Can determine own workingtempo'; and 'Can determine own working hours'), the homogeneity was better: alphawas then 0.77.

Almost 90 percent of the respondents who answered the questions had a high (68%)or very high (21%) degree of career orientation. There were proportionally morewomen (27%) in the highest score of career orientation. These differences betweenmen and women were indicative only. When career orientation was defined by onlythree items, the scores were lower. Then 62 percent of the respondents scored a ratherlow career orientation; differences between men and women were not statistically sig-nificant.

Women found 'Work at home better and more concentrated' a very important argu-ment – 84 percent of them, against 75 percent of men. However, the differences be-tween men and women were not statistically significant. Also, women seemed to valuethe possibility to decide over their own working time and pace more than men, but thisdifference was not statistically significant either. Men (43%) and women (45%)thought 'More time for family and housekeeping' equally important. These percentagesare much higher than the percentages found in the IDC-survey of 1996 (Vernooij enCasimir 1996). Then, 68 percent of the main breadwinners thought 'Work better, moreconcentrated' an important argument, against 79 percent of the current survey. In theIDC-survey 10 percent of main breadwinners thought 'Gaining time for family andhousekeeping' was important, and 30 percent of the second income-earners.

It was not the case, that respondents who scored high on family orientation, scoredlow on career orientation. Apparently these two orientations go together very well.This suggests a high degree of pluriformity. This will be discussed in Chapter 8, Con-clusions.


151

Table 7–14: Career-oriented motives and opinions

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Motives to work at home % % %Work better, more concentrated at home n.s.


Can decide over own working pace n.s. important 46 53 49 not important / not unimportant 27 27 28 unimportant 26 19 24

Can decide over own working hours n.s. important 73 80 76 not important / not unimportant 16 11 14 unimportant 11 8 10

Paid labour comes in the first place; leisure time andfamily have to be organised around that

p ð 0.01


Paid labour is a necessary evil; you need the money to live n.s. agree 28 29 29 neutral 23 29 26 disagree 49 41 46

Chi2 is calculated per item; df = 2.

Table 7–15: Career orientation

Men(n = 92)

Women(n = 62)

Total(n = 154)

Career orientation 5 items1

%3 items2

%5 items1

%3 items2

%5 items1

%3 items2

%Low degree of career orientation 1 11 7 13 3 12Reasonable degree of career orientation 8 66 8 56 8 62Fairly high degree of career orientation 74 22 58 32 68 26High degree of career orientation 17 0 27 0 21 0Total 100 100 100 100 100 1001) For 5 items: Chi2 = 6.4; df = 3; 0.05 ð>ñ ð 0.1 (indicative).2) For 3 items Chi2 = 2.1; df = 2; p > 0.1 (not significant).

Task and time orientationRelated to the concept family and career orientation, is the concept of task and timeorientation. Do people live to work, or is their work their life? Do they perform theirpaid labour in a more task-oriented manner when working at home, or becomes theirdomestic labour more time oriented? In this section, the attitudes towards paid andunpaid work is the subject of discussion.

In the survey there were two items concerning task and time orientation. Not morethan 11 percent of the respondents agreed on both items, 20 percent disagreed on both.


152

These differences did not show statistical significance. Table 7–16 presents the scoreson the individual items. Observed differences between men and women were not sta-tistically significant.

Table 7–16: Task and time-oriented opinions

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Motives to work at home % % %Family and leisure time should come in the first place;working hours are adjusted to that as much as possible

n.s.


Paid labour is a necessary evil; you need the money to live n.s. agree 28 29 29 neutral 23 29 26 disagree 49 41 46

Chi2 is calculated for differences between men and women per item; df = 2.

EgalitarianismTo establish a degree of egalitarianism, the responses to seven statements concerningdifferences between men and women and the division of labour between the sexes werecombined. This measure achieved a high degree of homogeneity (Cronbach's alpha =0.82). A high score means that respondents agreed with all – or almost all – statementsin which equal share of household and paid labour was proposed. Additionally, theydisagreed with statements that suggested that women are better fit to raise children andmen in particular need a good job. Respondents with a low score (not very egalitarian)did not agree with statements suggesting equal share. They agreed with statementsconcerning differences between men and women.

Women thought – more than men – that women were not necessarily better at rais-ing small children than men: 77 percent of the female respondents disagreed with thisstatement, while 57 percent of men disagreed. Most women (97%) indicated that child-care is equally the responsibility of men. A few male respondents, 4 percent, disagreedon this matter, 88 percent agreed as well. More than men, women wanted to share bothdomestic and paid labour equally. Although women wanted to share paid labour almosttwice as much as men, the overall agreement with this statement was rather low: only33 percent of the respondents − 26 percent of the men and 41 percent of the women –agreed with the idea that paid labour should be shared equally. A much higher percent-age (67%) agreed with an equal share of domestic labour. In Table 7–17 the responsesto the individual statements are presented. Table 7–18 shows the combined score.


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Table 7–17: Motives and opinions relating to egalitarianism

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Motives to work at home % % %Women can better raise small children than men p ò 0.05

agree 23 9 17neutral 19 14 17disagree 57 77 66

Children benefit most from a mother who is there when they come home from school n.s.agree 30 27 29neutral 24 21 23disagree 46 51 48

Childcare is equally the responsibility of the man as of the woman 0.05 ò»óPò�ôkõTöagree 88 97 92neutral 8 3 6disagree 4 - 2

It is more important for a man to have a good job than for a woman n.s.agree 3 4 4neutral 22 14 19disagree 75 81 78

Man and woman should share domestic labour equally p ò 0.05agree 61 74 67neutral 17 20 18disagree 22 6 15

The household is equally the responsibility of the man n.s.agree 82 89 85neutral 13 11 12disagree 5 - 3

Man and woman should share paid labour equally p ò 0.05agree 26 41 33neutral 31 37 34disagree 43 21 34


Table 7−18: Egalitarian attitude, combined score

Men(n = 92)

Women(n = 70)

Total(n = 1621)

Egalitarian attitude1 % % %Not or not very egalitarian 1 - 1Reasonable egalitarian 20 10 15Fairly egalitarian 49 40 45Very egalitarian 30 50 391) Chi2 = 7.7; df = 3; 0.05 ÷»øP÷�ùkúTûtü�ý þ!ÿ*ý��Tý ��(ú2) Not all respondents answered all questions.

Integration or separationThe survey contained two questions concerning opinions on separation or integrationof work and leisure time. One was about the combination of paid labour and childcare.


154

Sixty percent of the respondents agreed with the statement that telecommuting allowedpeople to combine work with childcare. Men disagreed more with this statement thanwomen (24 percent against 11 percent for women); 27 percent of the female respon-dents gave a neutral answer. Some respondents used the opportunity to comment thisquestion. They argued, that a combination of work and childcare can be difficult, be-cause the telecommuter can be distracted from his or her work. But on the other hand,remarks were made that telecommuting can offer the possibility to change workinghours and therefore contributes to easy transitions from work to family life.

The second question on separation or integration was: 'Work and leisure timeshould be separated as much as possible'. Here, 48 percent agreed with this statement,26 percent did not agree nor disagree, and 27 percent disagreed (Table 7–19).

Table 7–19: Motives and opinions on integration and separation

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Motives to work at home % % %By telecommuting. paid labour and childcare can be combined 0.05 � ��


Work and leisure time should be separated as much as possible n.s. agree 51 43 48 neutral 24 28 26 disagree 26 28 27

1) Chi2 is calculated for differences between men and women per item; df = 2.

Other motives and opinions concerning home-work and telecommutingIn Table 7–20 all other motives and opinions concerning home and telecommuting –not discussed yet – are combined. The table shows that women were less indifferentabout childcare than men.

The responses of women were either disagreeing or agreeing, and in less cases neu-tral than the responses of men. For instance, more women thought it was important tocare for their children themselves, but also more women thought this was unimportant.The same applied to 'Childcare too expensive' and 'Childcare not available', thoughhere the differences between male and female respondents were only indicative and notstatistically significant. Also, women seemed to attach more importance than men to'Saving commuting time': 77 percent of female and 68 percent of male respondents. Inthe 1996 IDC-survey 'Saving commuting time' was an important motive for 9 percent ofthe main breadwinners and for 29 percent of the second income earners. Increasedtraffic congestion, or perceptions of traffic congestion, over the last few years mightplay a role here.


155

Table 7–20: Several motives and opinions concerning telecommuting

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Motives to work at home % % %Save commuting time 0.05 � ��


Childcare too expensive 0.05 � �� important 3 8 5 not important / not unimportant 27 14 22 unimportant 70 78 73

Childcare not available 0.05 � �� important 5 10 7 not important / not unimportant 29 12 22 unimportant 65 78 70

No other job available n.s. important 4 6 5 not important / not unimportant 21 12 17 unimportant 75 83 78

Cannot get along with colleagues n.s. important 2 4 3 not important / not unimportant 14 10 13 unimportant 83 87 84

No room in the employer's office n.s. important 18 20 19 not important / not unimportant 20 13 18 unimportant 61 67 64

Cannot work elsewhere by illness or handicap n.s. important 2 4 3 not important / not unimportant 14 8 12 unimportant 83 88 85

Can keep job despite moving n.s. important 2 9 5 not important / not unimportant 15 7 12 unimportant 83 85 84

Can keep job despite moving firm n.s. important 6 4 6 not important / not unimportant 13 9 12 unimportant 80 87 83

When men start telecommuting, they automatically take up more household chores p � 0.05 agree 44 31 39 neutral 28 47 36 disagree 28 22 25

When women start telecommuting, they automatically take up more household chores n.s. agree 23 29 25 neutral 41 29 35 disagree 36 43 39


Only 25 percent of the respondents (29 percent of women and 23 percent of men)thought that women would automatically take up more household chores when work-


156

ing at home. More respondents, 44 percent of men, 31 percent of women and 39 per-cent of total, thought men would do so.

In this section, general characteristics of the respondents, their resources and theirstandard of care have been discussed. These characteristics set the scene for the mainresearch questions of the survey, the division of labour between partners. The follow-ing sections will focus on those questions.

7.2. Changes in external division of labourThe first research question concerned the external division of labour: 'To what extentdoes the external division of labour change when people start telecommuting?' Theexternal division of labour was defined as the division between paid and unpaid labourand the division between outsourcing and self-supporting. There were questions askedabout the employment situation of the respondents and of other members of the family.However, no questions were included on changes in this respect as a result of tele-commuting. Only 3 percent of the male and 5 percent of the female respondents did nothave a job before they started telecommuting. For 82 percent of the men, the number ofhours worked in a paid job, did not change since they started telecommuting. Ten per-cent of the rest decreased their jobs, 8 percent increased the number of hours worked.The women showed more changes. Of the female respondents, 61 percent worked asmany hours in a paid job before telecommuting. For 14 percent the hours per weekincreased, for 25 percent the hours decreased. Differences between men and womenwere statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05). Only 44 respondents (26 male and 18 female)indicated the reason for those changes. When they did, the arrival of a child was for 3women and 1 man the reason to decrease the number of hours worked. Next to that,only 5 percent (4% male, 6% female) indicated that telecommuting was the only possi-bility for paid work, because there were no other jobs available. These results could notdemonstrate an influence of telecommuting itself on the number of hours worked inpaid jobs (Table 7–21).

Table 7–21: Changes in paid labour since telecommuting

Men Women Total% % %

Hours worked per week decreased 10 25 16Hours worked stayed the same 82 61 73Hours worked per week increased 8 14 10Chi2 = 7.1; df = 2; p ≤ 0.05.

Responses on questions about the allocation of resources provide information on thedivision between market and private household, in particular the questions on (paid)domestic help, food (eating out, using convenience food) and paid childcare. Only thelatter showed substantial changes in comparison with the situation before telecommut-ing, especially in households with small children. There, 17 percent indicated to spendless on paid childcare, but 14 percent spent more. Also 12 percent of the respondentsmentioned an increase in expenditures on food in general. There were not enough dataavailable to detect if these increases coincided with the birth of a child or other major


157

changes in circumstances. For other categories, there was no evidence that the tele-commuters in this survey were outsourcing less. Dining out, for instance, is often usedby double-income households without children as a substitution of domestic labour(Keuzenkamp et al. 2000). For households with children it is generally too expensive,too time-consuming and too impractical. Since most of the respondents in this researchhad children, dining out was probably already not very common before they startedtelecommuting. Therefore, no changes could be observed in this respect.

Questions about the execution of specific household chores gave some insight in thedegree of self-sufficiency. Respondents were asked to indicate who routinely under-took specific tasks – themselves, their partner, shared between them or done by some-one else. This someone else could be a child or another member of the household, a kinor relative, but also a hired person. It appeared that in 82 percent of the cases, the num-ber of tasks done by someone else did not change after the start of telecommuting. In11 percent of the households others took up more tasks. In only 7 percent of the casesothers performed fewer tasks after the start of telecommuting. These results are in-cluded in Table 7–23, in section 7.3, Changes in internal division of labour.

To what extent does the external division of labour change when people start tele-commuting? This survey found little evidence of change in the external division oflabour. Only childcare seemed to decrease under the influence of telecommuting. Moreresearch will be needed to detect changes in other activities, including paid labour.


158

Table 7–22: Changes in the division between household and market

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Significancegender1

Households w.children < 4

(n =72)

Significancechildren2

Total(n = 171)

Spendingtime/money on… % % % %Paid domestic help n.s

more 9 11 n.s. 13 . 10same 71 73 75 72less 1 2 2 1

Eating out (expenditures) n.s.more 7 6 n.s. 5 7same 83 81 86 82less 2 5 3 3

Convenience food n.s.more 3 10 0.05 ��! 5 6same 85 67 82 78less 5 9 8 6

Food in general (expenditures) n.s.more 8 16 n.s. 14 11same 83 74 79 79less 3 3 5 3

Childcare (expenditures) p � 0.01more 7 11 0.05 ��! 14 9same 62 39 61 53less 8 15 17 11

1) Chi2 calculated for differences between men and women; df = 2.2) Chi2 calculated for differences between households with children and households without chil-

dren under 4 years old; df = 2.

7.3. Changes in internal division of labour

7.3.1. Participation in nine household tasksThe main question for the current survey was: 'To what extent does the internal divi-sion of labour change when people start telecommuting? For nine daily, recurring tasksrespondents were asked to indicate who undertook these tasks on home-working days,on other days, and before he or she worked at home regularly. The results are summa-rised in Table 7–23. Table 7–24 shows the same items, but only for respondents whoanswered 'me'. In this table the results for male and female respondents are separatelyshown, as well as the results for families with children under 18 years old.


159

Table 7–23: Who does what?

Me Partner Both Other No answerWho does what and when? %1 %1 %1 %1 %1

Cookingon home-working days? 51 24 20 1 4on the other days? 24 35 34 3 4before you started working at home? 30 36 27 2 5

Disheson home-working days? 28 7 41 15 10on the other days? 27 6 40 14 12before you started working at home? 25 5 44 14 13

Sweeping / hooveringon home-working days? 29 21 17 23 9on the other days? 23 22 24 26 5before you started working at home? 24 23 23 23 8

Laundryon home-working days? 36 33 21 2 8on the other days? 27 39 25 2 7before you started working at home? 29 35 28 1 7

Clearing away the laundryon home-working days? 26 39 20 6 9on the other days? 22 43 23 6 6before you started working at home? 21 40 26 5 9

Taking care for the childrenon home-working days? 29 8 21 12 30on the other days? 11 21 32 6 30before you started working at home? 12 20 26 9 33

Leisure activities with children (reading, walking, playing)on home-working days? 17 7 39 6 31on the other days? 9 8 49 3 31before you started working at home? 9 12 40 5 34

Getting children from schoolon home-working days? 29 9 14 7 41on the other days? 13 20 18 8 40before you started working at home? 12 19 14 9 45

Daily shoppingon home-working days? 51 17 18 2 13on the other days? 27 31 32 1 10before you started working at home? 31 26 29 1 13

1) Percentages of row totals.

The biggest changes between the situation before and after telecommuting were shownfor cooking and activities with children. Half of the telecommuters, 51 percent, werepreparing the dinner on their home-working days, while 30 percent of them reportedthey did so before they started working at home. A comparable increase could be ob-served concerning the daily shopping. Before telecommuting, 31 percent of the respon-dents did the daily shopping, 51 percent of them did this on home-working days. Whenwe look at activities with children, we see even bigger changes: 29 percent of the re-spondents were taking care of their children and got their children from school, while17 percent of them was reading or playing with children on their home-working days.Before they started working at home, only 12 percent was active in childcare and get-


160

ting children from school, and only 9 percent was reading, walking or playing withtheir children regularly.

Daily cleaning distinguishes itself from the other activities, because it was most of-ten done by others. In 23 percent of the cases this task was contracted out. In 15 per-cent of all households, the dishes were done by other people than the respondent. Herepossibly children played a role. In households with children older than 4 years old, thepercentage of ‘other’ dishwashers was 19 percent, in households with children olderthan 12, this was 28 percent.

In Table 7–24, the percentages of respondents who answered ‘me’ are summarised,classified according to gender and to households with children under 18 years old. Thetotals of table 7–24 correspond with the percentages in the column ‘me’ of Table 7–23.For instance, 51 percent of all respondents was cooking on home-working days; 40percent of the male respondents indicated to cook on their home-working days. Thetable also shows whether the differences between the men and women, and the differ-ences between households with or without children, were statistically significant. Thechanges between before and after the start of telecommuting are visualised in Figure7-2.

The biggest changes were to be found amongst men. Women cooked relatively andsignificantly more often than men (67% versus 40% on home-working days), but theincrease after starting telecommuting was bigger for men than for women. The share ofmen more than doubled, whilst the share of women only increased by a half. Morechanges could be observed in respect of children. This applied to all respondents, but inparticular to men. Only 5 percent of the male respondents took care of the childrenbefore they worked at home. After they started telecommuting, their share increased to26 percent for all respondents, and from 3 to 31 percent for men in households withchildren. Within households with children, 25 percent of the female respondents tookcare of the children before telecommuting, increasing to 50 percent on home-workingdays. There were no women who let their partner take care of the children on the daysthey work at home. Some men did, likewise some of the female interviewees in 1996reported. Getting children from school was done by men 7 times more since telecom-muting than before. Women's share only increased with a factor 1.8.


161

Table 7–24: Who does what; respondents who answered ‘me’

Men(n = 98)

Women(n = 70)

Significance1 Householdsw. children

(n = 107)

Significance2 Total3

(n = 168)

Who does what and when? %4 %4 %4 %4

Cookingon home-working days? 40 67 p " 0.01 51 n.s. 51on the other days? 12 40 p " 0.01 22 n.s. 24before working at home? 16 50 p " 0.01 27 n.s. 30

Disheson home-working days? 31 24 n.s. 27 n.s. 28on the other days? 28 27 n.s. 28 n.s. 27before working at home? 26 25 n.s. 26 n.s. 25

Sweeping / hooveringon home-working days? 18 44 p " 0.01 24 p "�#�$ #�% 29on the other days? 13 37 p " 0.01 19 n.s. 23before working at home? 12 41 p " 0.01 19 0.05 "�&�"�#�$�' 24

Laundryon home-working days? 12 69 p " 0.01 36 n.s. 36on the other days? 6 57 p " 0.01 22 n.s. 27before working at home? 6 60 p " 0.01 22 0.05 "�&�"�#�$�' 29

Clearing away the laundryon home-working days? 8 51 p " 0.01 25 n.s. 26on the other days? 7 43 p " 0.01 18 n.s. 22before working at home? 7 40 p " 0.01 17 n.s. 21

Taking care for the childrenon home-working days? 26 35 p "�#�$ #(% 38 p " 0.01 29on the other days? 5 20 p "�#�$ #)' 12 p " 0.01 11before working at home? 5 21 p "�#�$ #)' 11 p "�#�$ #*' 12

Leisure activities with childrenon home-working days? 13 22 n.s. 20 p "�#�$ #*' 17on the other days? 7 11 n.s. 8 p "�#�$ #*' 9before working at home? 7 12 n.s. 8 p "�#�$ #*' 9

Getting children from schoolon home-working days? 21 40 p " 0.05 40 p "�#�$ #*' 29on the other days? 4 27 p " 0.01 17 p "�#�$ #*' 13before working at home? 3 27 p " 0.01 17 p "�#�$ #*' 12

Daily shoppingon home-working days? 40 66 p " 0.01 49 n.s. 51on the other days? 19 37 p " 0.05 26 n.s. 27before working at home? 20 46 p " 0.01 30 n.s. 31

1) Chi2 calculated for differences between men and women; df = 2.2) Chi2 calculated for differences between households with children and households without chil-

dren under 18; df = 2.3) Not all respondents answered all questions4) Percentages of respondents who answered ‘me’.


162

Figure 7–2: Tasks performed by male and female telecommuters before and after thestart of telecommuting

Doing the laundry appeared to be the most gender-differentiated activity. Though somemen started washing and clearing away the laundry when working at home, their sharestill lagged behind that of women, and behind other activities. Washing dishes was themost neutral activity. There were little differences between the sexes. This activity alsoshowed the least differences before and after respondents started telecommuting.Looking closer at the respondents who washed the dishes on their home-working days,it appeared that 83 percent of them did this also before they started working at home,and 72 percent washed the dishes on the other days too. These results show that thisactivity was least influenced by telecommuting. Childcare on the other hand, was themost influenced. Only 38 percent of the respondents who took care of their children ontheir home-working days also did this before they started working at home; 35 percentdid it on the other days. The relative increases for male and female respondents, and forhouseholds with children, are summarised in Table 7–25.

Percentages of male respondents (left) and female respondents (right) performing the indicatedtasks before and after the start of telecommuting.

male respondents

-20

4060

80cooking

dishes

cleaning

laundry

clearing aw aylaundry

childcare

activities w .children

children fromschool

shopping

female respondents

-

204060

80cooking

dishes

cleaning

laundry


childcare


children fromschool

shopping

after

before


163

Table 7–25: Increase of activities

Men Women With children Total

Activity increase1 increase1 increase1 increase1% sameperson2

Taking care for the children 4.6 2.3 4.7 3.3 38Getting children from school 7.0 1.8 3.1 3.0 42Cooking 2.4 1.6 2.3 2.0 54Leisure activities with the children 1.9 2.0 3.5 1.9 52Daily shopping 1.9 1.7 1.9 1.8 59Doing the laundry 2.0 1.1 1.9 1.3 72Clearing away the laundry 1.1 1.2 1.7 1.2 77Sweeping / hoovering 1.4 1.0 1.2 1.2 74Doing the dishes 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.1 831) Relative increase of respondents answering 'me'; percentage performing the task on home-

working days divided by percentage before working at home2) Percentage of respondents who performed this task both before and after the start of telecom-

muting

7.3.2. Gender differences in the division of labour within householdsThere are several ways to detect the differences between men and women. Above thepercentages of male and female respondents per question and per answer category weresummarised. This gave a picture of changes in general, but not necessarily of changeswithin households. To define the division of domestic tasks between partners, all taskswere ascribed to the man and wife within a couple. For this operation only respondentsliving with a partner were taken into account. In this survey, all married − or otherwiseliving together − respondents lived with a partner of opposite sex. When male respon-dents did answer 'me', and female respondents did answer 'partner', the man was theone who performed the specific task. Conversely, the task was performed by the wifewhen male respondents answered 'partner' and female respondents answered 'me'.

Table 7–26 shows the results of this operation. In 49 percent of the couples, thewoman was the only cook. Washing dishes and activities with children were often donejointly. Daily shopping was less likely to be done together after the start of telecom-muting than before. Couples rarely leave the cooking and daily shopping to others, andthey always launder their clothes within the household. With the exception of the laun-dry and daily shopping, the female contribution decreased after one of the partnersstarted working at home. The male participation increased for all nine tasks. This tableis visualised in Figure 7-3.


164

Figure 7–3: Tasks performed by male and female partners

In Table 7–27 a comparison is made of the data in this research, and the data collectedin the 1990 time budget survey of the Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (De Hart 1995).The SCP data concern 3.158 respondents, who reported spending more than one quar-ter of an hour in the research week on specific tasks. For a majority of tasks, the shareof men had increased compared to 1975. Only for two tasks the male contribution de-creased. Washing-up declined from 54 percent in 1975 to 45 percent in 1990 and –remarkably enough – reading, playing indoors and walking with children, from respec-tively 14 to 13 percent, 21 to 14 percent and 9 to 5 percent. Getting children fromschool was not a separate category in the SCP research. The SCP researched mobilitywith children in several categories: motor or car with child, moped, bicycle or walkingwith child, public transport with child. All categories counted less than 10 percent, withthe exception of cycling or walking with a child by women. In 1990, 15 percent of thesampled women had taken part in this activity.

Percentages of male and female partners performing specified tasks. See Table 7-26

male partners

0

20

40

60

80cooking

dishes

cleaning

laundry


childcare


children fromschool

shopping

female partners

0

20

40

60

80cooking

dishes

cleaning

laundry


childcare


children fromschool

shopping

after

before


165

Table 7–26: Tasks performed by male and female partners

Male Female Together Other Noanswer

Activities %1 %1 %1 %1 %1

Cooking On home-working days 27 49 21 - 3 On the other days 14 45 37 1 3 Before you started working at home 14 53 29 - 5

Dishes On home-working days 21 11 43 15 9 On the other days 17 13 43 15 12 Before you started working at home 16 11 46 14 13

Sweeping / hoovering On home-working days 14 37 17 25 8 on the other days 9 35 24 27 5 before you started working at home 8 38 23 24 7

Laundry on home-working days 6 65 21 - 7 on the other days 4 64 26 - 6 before you started working at home 1 62 30 - 7

Clearing away the laundry on home-working days 7 59 21 5 8 on the other days 7 59 24 5 5 before you started working at home 6 55 27 3 8

Taking care for the children on home-working days 15 23 22 12 28 on the other days 5 27 34 5 28 before you started working at home 3 29 29 8 31

Leisure activities with children on home-working days 8 15 42 5 29 on the other days 4 11 53 2 29 before you started working at home 4 15 44 5 32

Getting children from school on home-working days 13 26 15 6 39 on the other days 3 31 20 8 38 before you started working at home 2 31 15 8 44

Daily shopping on home-working days 26 43 18 1 12 on the other days 19 39 33 - 9 before you started working at home 16 41 31 - 13

Percentages of all couples, row totals; n = 153.


166

Table 7–27: Comparison of this research with 1990 SCP time budget research

Men WomenSCP2

(n = 3158)GC3

(n= 153)SCP2

(n = 3158)GC3

(n= 153)Activities % % %1 %Cooking 59 48 90 71Dishes4 45 64 74 55Sweeping / hoovering 35 31 85 53Laundry 17 27 75 87Clearing away the laundry 12 28 71 80Taking care for the children 11 37 22 45Leisure activities with children 14 51 19 58Getting children from school5 4 29 15 41Daily shopping6 46 44 72 611) Source: time budget research of Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau CP 1990 (De Hart 1995).2) Percentage of respondents who spent in the research week at least one quarter to this task.3) Percentage of respondents performing the tasks on home-working days by husband or wife,

added with percentage of respondents answering 'together'.4) In SCP-research setting and cleaning the table is included.5) Cycling/walking with child in the SCP-research6) In SCP-research: supermarket, food/groceries

To detect the contribution of each partner to the domestic labour within the household,the number of tasks performed by each of them have been counted (see also Chapter 6,Methodological aspects). This count was augmented with half of the count of thejointly performed tasks. Figure 7–4 displays the number of tasks performed by menand women, before and after the start of telecommuting, in percentages of familyhouseholds. After starting telecommuting, there were more men who did more thanfour tasks and fewer men who did less than four tasks. For women the trend was re-versed. The intersection of the two lines lay for them at five tasks. The number ofwomen who performed more than five tasks decreased, the number of women per-forming less than five tasks increased.

Before telecommuting, in 55 percent of the households the man performed up totwo tasks and in 5 percent of the households five tasks or more. After the start of tele-commuting, the percentage of households in which the man performed five tasks ormore increased to 12 percent. The percentage of households in which the man per-formed four tasks or more, increased from 8 to 20 percent. Still in 51 percent of thefamily households, the man performed no more than two tasks. The average number oftasks performed by men within households was 2.0 before telecommuting, increasingto 2.4 on home-working days.


167

Figure 7–4: Number of tasks performed by men and women

In 17 percent of the households, women performed two tasks or less than that beforetelecommuting, while in 52 percent of the households they did five or more tasks. Afterone of the partners started telecommuting, the percentage of households in whichwomen did most of the work – five or more tasks – decreased to 44 percent. The num-ber of households in which they did not more than two tasks increased slightly from 17to 19 percent. In 37 percent of the households, women did between two and five tasks,against 31 percent before telecommuting started. The average number of tasks womenperformed before telecommuting was 4.6, decreasing to 4.3 on home-working days ofthe telecommuter in her household. Not in the figure are the numbers of tasks per-formed by people other than the respondents and their partner.

To define the realised division of labour between the partners within households, acombined scale for symmetry was devised. This scale compared the number of tasksperformed by man and woman per household. If man and wife performed the same – oralmost the same – number of tasks, the household had a symmetrical division of do-mestic labour. The bigger the difference, the more asymmetrical the division was. Ta-ble 7–28 presents the degree of symmetry before and after the start of telecommuting.

Before telecommuting, 61 percent of the households were asymmetrical in a tradi-tional way (woman doing more tasks), 41 percent of which were ‘rather’ to ‘ very’asymmetrical (women performing more than five tasks more than men). After the startof telecommuting, the percentage of traditionally asymmetrical households decreasedto 54 percent, and the percentage of very asymmetrical ones to 37 percent. Most of thehouseholds that were asymmetrical after the start of telecommuting, were alreadyasymmetrical before. Only a few asymmetrical households (7% of total) became evenmore asymmetrical than before. The percentage of symmetrical households decreasedfrom 33 to 29 percent. The percentage of asymmetrical households in which the man

Percentages of households that perform the indicated number of tasks, before (dark) and after(lighter colour) the start of telecommuting; n = 153 (90% male, 63% female respondents); averagenumber of tasks: men before = 2.0; men after = 2.4; women before = 4.6; women after = 4.3.

men

-

5

10

15

200

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

women

-

5

10

15

200

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

before

after


168

performed more tasks than the woman increased from 6 to 17 percent. Before tele-commuting, no differences between male and female respondents were found. Thatmeans that the degree of symmetry within households of male telecommuters did notdiffer from that of female telecommuters. After the start of telecommuting, the non-traditional asymmetrical households consisted mainly of the households of male re-spondents.

In Table 7–28, the grey cells indicate the percentages of households for which thedegree of symmetry did not change after starting telecommuting. This was the case for51 percent of the households. All scores above and to the right of this diagonal indicatea change in the direction of more male participation. This applied to 31 percent in total(because of rounding off this total is less than the sum of percentages in the table). Thescores below and left of the diagonal point out a decrease of male participation. Thiswas the case for 18 percent of the households. These changes in symmetry are pre-sented graphically in Figure 7–5.

There was no statistically significant correlation with the asymmetry before tele-commuting. Initially very asymmetrical households did not change more than the onesthat were already fairly symmetrical. There were, however, statistically significantgender differences. In those cases that an increase in traditional asymmetry was de-tected, the telecommuter was − except one − a woman.

Table 7–28: Symmetry before and after telecommuting

Man did more Woman did moreDegree of symmetry beforetelecommuting Asym-

metricalSomewhat

asym-metrical

Sym-metrical

Asym-metrical

Ratherasym-

metrical

Veryasym-

metrical

Total(n = 153)

Degree of symmetry afterthe start of telecommuting

%1 % % % % % %

Asymmetrical(man did > 5 tasks more) 1 - 2 1 1 1 5

Somewhat asymmetrical(man did 2-4 tasks more) - 2 6 2 2 1 12

Symmetrical(difference = 1 or 0) - 2 18 5 5 - 29

Asymmetrical(woman did 2-4 tasksmore)

1 1 4 8 3 1 17

Rather asymmetrical(woman did 5-7 tasksmore)

- - 3 4 19 3 29

Very asymmetrical(woman did > 8 tasksmore)

- - - 1 2 4 7

Total 1 5 33 20 31 10 100

1) Percentages of total married (or otherwise living together) respondents.


169

Figure 7–5: Changes in symmetry, percentages of family households

7.3.3. Relation to other characteristicsHaving calculated the changes in symmetry, it is possible to relate these to other char-acteristics of the household. The results of the factors that showed a statistically sig-nificant relation with symmetry, are presented in Table 7–29.

The factors gender, education, earner type, duration of telecommuting practices,presence of children between 4 and 12 years old, egalitarian attitude, the convictionthat parents should educate their children themselves and the way the household labouris organised seemed to be relevant. All other attitudes or factors that could be related tothe symmetry or asymmetry within the household – for instance, age, income, type ofjob, family or career orientation – did not return statistical significant differences.

A comparison of the change in symmetry with education, shows that in the catego-ries ‘no changes’ and ‘ more symmetry’, respondents with higher vocational trainingwere over-represented. In the category ‘more asymmetry’, respondents with a unive r-sity education were over-represented. To phrase it differently: respondents with a uni-versity background changed less than average in a more symmetrical direction, andmore than average in an asymmetrical direction.

The earner type appeared to be an important explanatory variable. Single-earnerhouseholds kept more than average the same degree of symmetry after starting to tele-commute and those households displayed a less than average increase in symmetry. Anincreased asymmetry was in particular detected in one-and-a-half-earner households,while increased symmetry was found in double-income households. Changes in sym-metry also had a relation with the number of years respondents worked at home. The

more asymmetrical

no changes

more symmetrical

male respondents

female respondents

total-

10

20

30

40

50

60


170

most changes were found among the ones who worked at home between 2 and 3 years.The symmetry in households with children between 4 and 12 years old increased morethan average. In households with younger or older children, changes were not statisti-cally significant.

Table 7–29: Changes in symmetry related to selected respondents’ characteristics

moresymmetry

no changes moreasymmetry

Significance2

% % %Total3 33 52 15Gender male telecommuter 48 51 1 p = ≤ 0.01

Female telecommuter 10 54 37Education Lower / middle 27 59 14 p = ≤ 0.05

Higher vocational 40 56 4University 28 47 25

Earner type Single earner 26 65 9 p = ≤ 0.01one-and-a-half earner 22 47 31Double income 40 52 9< 1 year 28 48 24 0.05 + ,�+�-�.�/Duration of telecom-

muting Between 1 and 2 years 36 52 12Between 2 and 3 years 46 27 27Between 3 and 4 years 18 76 6Between 4 and 5 years 18 82 ->5 years 36 52 12Yes 42 42 16 0.05 + ,�+�-�.�/Households with chil-

dren 4-12 years old No 25 59 15Egalitarian attitude reasonable 48 39 13 p = ≤ 0.01

fairly high 38 56 6very 22 47 31agree 40 50 10 p = ≤ 0.01neutral 17 62 21

Parents should educatetheir children themselves

disagree 20 40 40agree 46 32 21 p ≤ 0.05neutral 47 45 8

Since I work at home Ido the domestic labourless systematically disagree 23 62 151) Figures represent row totals. Only those characteristics that showed statistical significance or

indications of significance are taken into account.2) Chi2 is calculated per variable, comparing each variable with symmetry; df differs per variable.3) Totals can differ from other tables, because not all respondents answered all questions; n = be-

tween 138 and 153.

The egalitarian attitude − supposed to be the most important explanatory variable forthe realised symmetry − appeared to have an unexpected reverse effect. The higher thescore on this scale, the lower the chance to divide the tasks more evenly between manand woman. From the ones with a fairly egalitarian attitude, 48 percent became moresymmetrical. This is, compared to the 33 percent of total, considerably above-average.Those who had a very strong egalitarian attitude became more asymmetrical: 31 per-cent of them, against 15 percent of total. Not more than 22 percent of the very egali-


171

tarian households became more symmetrical after the start of telecommuting, which islow compared to the 33 percent of all households.

Not surprisingly, respondents who agreed with the statement that parents shouldeducate their children themselves, showed a more than average increase in symmetry(40%). An overall family-oriented attitude, however, did not lead to statistically sig-nificant deviations from the average, nor did a career oriented attitude.

The respondents who indicated that they did their domestic work less systematicallythan before, were also the ones who changed their habits more than average: 46 percentof those who agreed with this statement also had an increased symmetry, while 21percent had a decreased symmetry. This can also be phrased the other way around: therespondents who changed their habits the most, might have changed their ways of or-ganising their domestic labour as well. More research is needed to examine this further.

7.3.4. Summarising the answers to the main research questionHow does the internal division of labour (division among the members of the house-hold) change by telecommuting and how does the content of the daily care change?The emphasis in this survey was on the division of labour between partners. In 52 per-cent of the households, the division of labour did not change as a result of telecom-muting. In 32 percent of the households, the internal division of labour became moresymmetrical, while in 16 percent of the households the internal division became moreasymmetrical. The changes were biggest in households of male telecommuters. Mentook up more household tasks when working at home, in particular activities with chil-dren and cooking. Men took care of children 4.6 times more often than before tele-commuting, children were picked up from school by 7 times more men after the start oftelecommuting. The relative increase for women was considerably less, respectively2.3 and 1.8. The relative increase for cooking was 2.4 for men and 1.6 for women.Though more households of male telecommuters became more symmetrical than thoseof female telecommuters, if households became more asymmetrical, the telecommuterwas more often than not a woman.

The increase or decrease in symmetry was not only related to gender. The asymme-try increased among respondents with an academic (university) background, whilegraduates from other institutes of higher education showed a more than average in-crease in symmetry. The one-and-a-half-earner households were over-represented inthe group of decreasing symmetry, the double-income households became more sym-metrical. Concerning the duration of the telecommuting practice, it seemed that re-spondents who worked at home between 2 and 3 years changed the division of tasksthe most, both in an asymmetrical and a symmetrical direction. Households with chil-dren between 4 and 12 years old became more symmetrical, though this trend was sta-tistically not more than indicative. Surprisingly, an egalitarian attitude did notguarantee a symmetrical division of tasks. On the contrary, the higher the degree ofegalitarianism, the more asymmetrical the division of domestic labour. One of thestatements was: ‘Parents should educate their children themselves’. The ones whoagreed with this statement, showed a more than average increase in symmetry and viceversa, the disagreeing respondents showed a more than average decrease in symmetry.


172

Respondents who indicated that they performed their domestic work less systemati-cally, showed a more than average increase in symmetry.

The findings of this section are summarised in Table 7–30. This table is based onTable 7-29. A plus sign indicates a deviation from the total in a positive sense. It meansthat the difference with the average percentage in the concerning column is between 5and 10 percent. Two plus signs when the deviation of 10 percent or more. The sameapplies to the minus signs. A square means no deviation or a deviation less than 5 per-cent.

Table 7–30: Overview of changes in symmetry related to selected characteristics

Symmetry1 more symmetry no changes more asymmetrymale telecommuter ++ 0 - -Genderfemale telecommuter - - 0 ++lower / middle - + 0higher vocational + 0 - -

Education

university - - ++single earner - ++ -one-and-a-half earner - - - ++

Earner type

double income + 0 -< 1 year - 0 +1-2 years 0 0 02-3 years ++ - - ++3-4 years - - ++ -4-5 years - - ++ - -

Duration of telecom-muting

> 5 years ++ 0 0yes + - 0Households w. children

under 4 years old no - + 0reasonably ++ - - 0fairly high + 0 -

Egalitarian attitude

very high - - - ++agree + 0 -neutral - - ++ +

Parents should educatetheir children themselves

disagree - - - ++1) Changes are statistically significant or indicative (see also Table 7–29).

+ higher percentage than average (5-10% more)++ much higher percentage than average (more than 10% more)- lower percentage than average (5-10% less)- - much lower percentage than average (more than 10% less)0 no changes (or less than 5% deviation of average)See also Table 7-29.

Not only the division of household labour seemed to have changed under the influenceof telecommuting, changes in the content of daily care could also be noticed, in par-ticular in childcare, food preparation and shopping. Remarks were made about thepossibility of cooking more extensive meals. The idea that the habit of one-stop-shopping once a week was replaced or complemented with repeatedly smaller errandsduring the week is confirmed by the results. It is conceivable that the flexibility inworking hours and place of work affected daily routines in general, calling for newcaring arrangements and agreements within the household. However, the data from this


173

research were not sufficient to reveal how and to what extent these arrangements andagreements change.

7.4. Assessment and feedbackThe third research question of the survey was: ‘How do households assess the changesand which strategies do they apply to minimise possibly negative consequences; or istelecommuting by itself a strategy to match wishes and possibilities?’ In this sectionfirst the evaluation will be discussed and, next to that, the applied strategies.

7.4.1. AssessmentThe evaluation of the outcome of household behaviour – the comparison of standard ofcare with level of care – indicated the extent of wellbeing of the household. In thisresearch, the question was narrowed to a subjective value judgement: did respondentsvalue their current situation as an improvement or deterioration compared to their for-mer situation? And what strategies did they use to match the current situation with thedesired? Did telecommuting play a role in this respect? Here again the concepts offamily orientation and of task and time orientation were addressed, not as attitudes, butin the way the domestic labour was arranged.

Family orientationTable 7–31 shows the results of the assessment questions related to family orientation.Only some statements showed statistically significant gender differences on the Chi-square test. Though men scored higher than women on childcare, the differences arenot large enough to be statistically significant. The statements that did show statisti-cally significant gender differences were: 'house and garden look better', 'I am alwaysthere for the members of my family’ and 'I am always the one who has to do everythingin the house'. More women than men (20% against 4%) thought their house and gardenlooked better since working at home. Men and women agreed to the same extent (37%)with the idea that they were fortunately always there for other members of their house-hold, but more women disagreed with this statement: 47 percent versus 28 percentmen. A small proportion of the women – 11 percent – felt that they were always theones who had to do everything in the house. No men agreed with this statement. InFigure 7-6 all percentages agreeing with the specified statements are presented.

The family-oriented statements in this category have been combined into one score,indicating a family-oriented practice. Table 7–32 shows these scores. They can becompared with the family-oriented attitude explained in section 7.1.3. The number ofdata is not sufficient to attach statistical significance to the differences.


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Table 7–31: Assessment, family orientation

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Evaluative statements % % %Since I work at home the children get more attention n.s.


Since I work at home I spend more time on meals n.s. agree 24 25 25 neutral 23 23 23 disagree 52 52 52

Since I work at home house and garden look better p ≤ 0.01 agree 4 20 11 neutral 34 33 34 disagree 61 47 55

Since I work at home I am more interested in household chores and childcare n.s. agree 13 7 11 neutral 26 28 27 disagree 60 65 62

When I work at home I always see housework to be done n.s. agree 18 22 19 neutral 25 12 20 disagree 57 66 61

By working at home, I pay too much attention on household and family n.s. agree 4 6 5 neutral 20 16 19 disagree 75 77 76

Because I am working at home, I am (fortunately) always there for the other membersof my household

p ≤ 0.05


By working at home, I am always the one who has to do everything in the house p ≤ 0.01 agree - 11 5 neutral 19 24 21 disagree 81 65 74

Chi2 is calculated for differences between men and women; df = 2.

Table 7–32: Family orientation: attitude and practice

attitude(n = 1621)

practice(n = 1641)

Family orientation % %Low degree of family orientation 7 10Reasonable degree of family orientation 33 38Fairly high degree of family orientation 54 48High degree of family orientation 6 41) Not every respondent answered all questions.


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Figure 7-6: Family orientation, percentages of respondents agreeing to specifiedstatements

Task and time orientationThe next concept to be addressed was the task or time orientation. The items presentedin Table 7–33 were defined as being indicators for a task- or time-oriented approach ofdomestic labour. The statements 'I do paid job with more satisfaction' and 'do my do-mestic work more efficiently', showed statistically significant gender difference.Women were in particular more satisfied with their paid job than men. Nevertheless,they also indicated more than men, that they did their homework more efficiently, and− at the same time − less systematically: 41 percent of the male, and 35 percent of thefemale respondents (39 percent of all) disagreed with both statements. Ten percent ofthe women agreed with both, 15 percent of them indicated to do the domestic workmore efficiently, but disagreed with the statement that the domestic work was done lesssystematically. A correlation with attitude statements could not be established.

Doing the paid job with more satisfaction and less hurried, would indicate a task-oriented attitude towards paid work in the current situation. In particular women, 41percent, agreed with both statements. For men this was 26 percent (32% for all respon-dents). There could no statistically significant relationship be detected between theperceived attitude towards paid labour and the observations in relation to telecommut-ing practices.

010

20

3040

50

Since I w ork at home the children getmore attention

Since I w ork at home I spend more timeon meals

Since I w ork at home house and gardenlook better

Since I w ork at home I am moreinterested in household chores and

childcare

When I w ork at home I alw ays seehousew ork to be done

By w orking at home, I pay too muchattention on household and family

Because I am w orking at home, I am(fortunately) alw ays there for the other

members of my household

By w orking at home, I am alw ays theone w ho has to do everything in the

house

Women

Men


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Table 7–33: Assessment, task and time orientation

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Evaluative statements % % %Since I work at home I do my paid job with more satisfaction p ≤ 0.05


Since I work at home I do my paid job less hurried (I do not count my hours so much,I pay more attention on quality)

n.s.


Since I work at home I do my paid job more efficiently n.s. agree 57 55 56 neutral 26 25 26 disagree 16 20 18

Since I work at home I do my domestic labour more efficiently / systematically p ≤ 0.05 agree 10 27 17 neutral 34 29 32 disagree 56 44 51

Since I work at home I do my domestic labour less systematically because I can do itin between

0.05 1 2�1�3�4�5 agree 16 29 21 neutral 37 17 29 disagree 47 54 50


Table 7-33 and Figure 7-7 show that all respondents – but women in particular, agreemore with work-related statements than with statements about domestic labour.


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Figure 7-7: Assessment, task and time orientation

Table 7–34: Assessment, remaining questions

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Evaluative statements % % %By working at home it was possible (finally) to live where I wanted n.s.


It is good to get the best of both worlds n.s. agree 48 65 55 neutral 39 27 34 disagree 12 8 11

Because I work at home the whole family ‘works’ with me n.s. agree 8 19 12 neutral 24 25 24 disagree 68 56 63

Telecommuting is not my first choice, but the least bad in my circumstances n.s. agree 8 15 11 neutral 26 16 22 disagree 66 69 67

Do you think telecommuting is the ideal solution? p ≤ 0.01yes 54 79 64no 39 16 29no answer 7 6 7

1) Chi2 is calculated for differences between men and women per item; df = 2.

0102030405060

Since I w ork at home I do my paid jobw ith more satisfaction

Since I w ork at home I do my paid jobless hurried (I do not count my hours

so much, I pay more attention onquality)

Since I w ork at home I do my paid jobmore eff iciently

Since I w ork at home I do mydomestic labour more eff iciently /

systematically

Since I w ork at home I do mydomestic labour less systematically

because I can do it in betw een

Women

Men

Percentage of respondents agreeing to the specified statements.


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Table 7–34 presents the responses to assessment statements, not yet discussed above.The quality of house and surroundings, and the concepts of integration and spill-overwere addressed in this section of the survey. These responses showed no relationshipwith attitude statements on integration or separation, as discussed in section 7.1 (Re-spondents’ characteristics).

The overall assessment of telecommuting was positive: 54 percent of the men, andeven 79 percent of the women, thought telecommuting was a good solution in theirsituation. This last statement was the only one within this group that showed statisti-cally significant differences between men and women.

7.4.2. Strategies usedThough telecommuting was evaluated positively by most respondents, many of therespondents indicated in open answers that managing of boundaries between privatelife and paid job needed attention. They appeared to apply different strategies to mini-mise possible disadvantages of telecommuting. A segregation in space was applied bymost respondents: 81 percent (77% male, 87% female) worked in a separate office. Asegregation in time was less clear: 46 percent of respondents worked on fixed hours.Segregation by technical means seemed to be applied by a large minority: 42 percenthad a separate telephone line. Some respondents pointed to the importance of this sepa-rate line or an answering machine to facilitate the separation. Only 20 percent madeagreements with other household members about computer use. When they did, theyemphasised the necessity of clear agreements about allowed interruptions and the useof equipment. Respondents who worked on fixed hours, made appointments with col-leagues and the employer's secretariat about their availability. Many tried not to workin the evening or at weekends. Next to fixed working schedules they kept record ofhours worked, both to do enough work and to prevent themselves from working toomuch. Some planned their home-working days fully with specified tasks. One of therespondents gave the key of his study to his partner when his work was finished orwhen it was time to stop. Otherwise his inclination to go back there might have beentoo big.

Although separation was the most commonly used strategy to manage the bounda-ries between work and private life, integration was mentioned as a key factor to successand constituted – together with flexibility – the main attraction of telecommuting. Thehigh appreciation of flexibility worked against tight schedules. Women seemed to bemore eager for the combination of work and home than men: 65 percent of the femalerespondents and 48 percent of the male respondents agreed on the statement that tele-commuting offers them ‘best of both worlds’. However, these differences were notstatistically significant.

Some telecommuters remarked that the route from work to home is often used to re-flect on the day and to get work out of one's mind. When working at home, this time ismissed. Therefore they mentioned getting out of the house for a while at the end of theworking day, for instance to post a letter or do an errand. Others advised sports – ‘… anhour tennis to combat the danger of too long working hours’ – or bicycle ride to signalclosure of the working day.


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Table 7–35: Summarising questions

Men(n = 100)

Women(n = 71)

Total(n = 171)

Significance1

Summarising questions % % %Do you use a separate study for your paid labour? n.s.

Yes 77 87 81No 17 10 14no answer 6 3 5

Are you working on fixed working hours? n.s.Yes 48 44 46No 47 51 49no answer 5 4 5

Are you using a separate telephone line and answering machine to separate work andprivate life?

n.s.

Yes 40 46 42No 55 51 54no answer 5 3 4

Did you make agreements about computer and telephone use with your housemates? n.s.Yes 18 21 20No 78 76 77no answer 4 3 4

Did you start telecommuting because you wanted a different labour division? n.s.Yes 3 4 4No 93 93 93no answer 4 3 4


The presence of children provoked ambiguous reactions. Though many telecommutersstarted working at home because of children, they also stated that working with chil-dren around was not possible. So their child went to childcare when they worked athome, or they made appointments outside the home when the children were there. Onthe other hand, children forced them to pay attention on family and daily life: ‘Before Ihad children, work and private life were much more mingled.’ Children preventedtelecommuters from being at work all the time, which was generally evaluated as posi-tive.

Answering the question 'What do you do to limit the disadvantages of telecommut-ing' some respondents reacted with the remark that there were no disadvantages: ‘I loveit’, or ‘I don't know any disadvantages’. However, they were a minority. Only 10 re-spondents reacted in this sense, while approximately 50 made remarks about disad-vantages or suggested strategies to cope. A very small minority, 4 percent, startedtelecommuting because they wanted to divide domestic labour differently. The sugges-tion that telecommuting might be used as a strategy to realise changes in daily routineshas to be rejected for this sample.

Although it was not the subject of the survey, many remarks were made about theimportance of contact with colleagues and the employer's office to prevent lonelinessand to improve the quality of work. Also, remarks were made about the indispensablediscipline needed for telecommuting. Practical solutions were suggested, like regularmeetings every other week; visiting the office twice a week; planning appointments inthe office; trying to finish the work in the office as much as possible; calling colleagues


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often, and outings with colleagues every year. These strategies were not directed at thecombination of work and private life, but to the quality of work itself. As such theywere of benefit to telecommuting and might be a requisite to preserve a good balancebetween work and the private domain.

7.5. The hypotheses

7.5.1. Symmetry and asymmetryBased on the qualitative phase of this research, the main hypothesis to be tested in thesurvey suggested an increase of asymmetry in asymmetrical, family-oriented house-holds. It was assumed that not only female telecommuters would take up more taskswhen working at home, but that female partners of home-working men would do so aswell. When men start working at home, it was assumed that they would not performmore household chores.

From the results of the survey, it can be concluded that the division of unpaid la-bour within the home of the respondents changed considerably under the influence oftelecommuting. However, the hypothesis that this division would become more asym-metrical, has to be rejected. Only 16 percent of the households divided the domesticlabour more asymmetrical after the start of telecommuting. In those households, thetelecommuter was – except for one case – a woman. These households comprised 37percent of the households of female telecommuters. Almost one third, 32 percent, ofthe responding households – 48 percent of the male respondents and 10 percent of thefemale respondents – became more symmetrical after the start of telecommuting. In theremaining households − 52 percent of total, 51 percent male, 54 percent female − nochanges in symmetry were observed.

The hypothesis suggested that an increase of asymmetry would in particular occurin family-oriented, asymmetrical households. Such a relationship could not be detectedfrom these results. Only in 7 percent of the cases an asymmetrical household becamemore asymmetrical. A relation with a family oriented attitude could not be detectedfrom these data.

7.5.2. Changing attitudesThe second hypothesis expected changing attitudes towards both paid and unpaid la-bour. The paid labour would become more task oriented, the unpaid labour more timeoriented, when performed in each other vicinity. The first part of this hypothesis seemsto be supported by the results of the survey. An increase in time orientation in relationto domestic labour could not been observed. Both concepts were not enough crystal-lised to give clear-cut, distinctive outcomes. Responses to the open questions are mostindicative in this respect:

‘The work is never done.’

‘I work more hours when I work at home’


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or:

‘I write down net hours when I work at home, while in the office the coffeebreaks are counted as working hours.’

Some respondents explicitly held the transition from a time-oriented to a task-orientedculture responsible for their workload increase:

‘Since I am evaluated by tasks, I work more hours. I check my e-mails in theevening, I finish a report in the weekend. Before, I thought it was enough when Ihad worked my weekly hours.’

The technology and flexibility accompanying telecommuting, is used to work at differ-ent places; for instance at different locations of the same organisation. The effect foremployees with flexible workplaces was that their home is their most central work-place. Someone said:

‘Now I am working at different places, I have most of my files at home. Theconsequence of that is that I always have to check or finish something when Icome home in the evening.’

On the other hand, remarks were made about decreased stress when working at home,even when the total amount of hours worked increased. More than half of the telecom-muters, 56 percent, said that they did their paid work more efficiently, 55 percent of thewomen and 34 percent of the men indicated that they did their paid work with moresatisfaction; 45 percent of the female and 39 percent of the male respondents noted thatthey did their paid work less hurried since working at home.

It appeared more difficult to detect a more time-oriented approach of domesticwork. Many of the interviewees in 1996 had said that household chores were intrudingthe work sphere and imposing themselves on the home-worker. Four or five years later,this seemed to be less of an issue. Only 4 percent of the current survey respondentsthought that they were paying too much attention on household and family. A minority(11%) became more interested in household chores since working at home. More thana quarter of the women (27%), and 10 percent of the men reported that they performedtheir domestic work more efficiently. A comparable number of respondents, 29 percentfemale and 16 percent male, indicated a less systematic approach to domestic worksince working at home. It was expected that respondents who agreed with the firststatement (more efficient), would disagree with the second one (less systematic). Thisappeared not to be the case: 39 percent of the respondents (35 percent of the womenand 41 percent of men) disagreed with both statements. Conversely, only 7 percent ofrespondents who agreed on a less systematic approach to the housework, disagreed alsowith the statement that they were performing their domestic work more systematically.

In Chapter 8 (Discussion), the answers to the research questions and the hypotheseswill be discussed. There the conclusions will be related to the theoretical frameworkdeveloped in Chapters 2 to 5.

Conclusions and discussion

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8. Conclusions and discussion

8.1. A typology of householdsThis research studied the effect of telecommuniting on the division of domestic labourbetween partners of opposite sex. Clearly, not all households will respond in the sameway to telecommuting and it makes a difference whether the telecommuter is a man ora woman. Here the results of the research are presented as a typology. Theclassification is based on the sex of the telecommuter on the one hand and the degreeand direction of change in the division of domestic labour on the other. Thus theoreti-cally six types of households could be discerned, but only four of them appeared tooccur in reasonable numbers:1. Households with a female telecommuter changing in a more traditional direction

(16% of cases).2. Households with a male telecommuter, no changes in division of labour (28% of

cases).3. Households with a female telecommuter, no changes (22% of cases).4. Households with a male telecommuter changing to a more symmetrical division of

tasks (29% of cases).This typology is presented in Figure 8-1. As can be seen in the figure, the remaininghouseholds were either households of male telecommuters, becoming more asymmetri-cal (1%), or households of female telecommuters becoming more symmetrical (4%).The four main types differ in the way they divide their tasks. Also, slight differences inincome, education, and attitudes could be observed. In the following subsections fourimaginary representatives of these telecommuter types are pictured.


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Figure 8–1: Typology of households

Male telecommuter(n = 100)

Female telecommuter(n = 71)

More asymmetrical (1%) 1. More work for mother(16%)

No changes 2. Shared responsibility(28%)

3. Continued genderdifferences(22%)

More symmetrical 4. Men taking over(29%)

(4%)

Percentages of total number of households.

8.1.1. Becoming more asymmetrical: more work for motherThe smallest group (16%) consists of households of female telecommuters who take upmore household tasks when working at home. Typically, the representative of thisgroup is 42 years old and has children under 12 years old. She works in a substantialpart-time job (24-32 hours per week) with a good income (more than 2500 Euros permonth). She has an academic education. Her partner has a fulltime job. She works 16hours per week at home, on two or three fixed days.

Before she started working at home, the partners did most of the tasks together. Thecleaning was outsourced, and children went to day-care. After the start of telecommut-ing, her partner cut back his share. She took up the responsibility for most tasks, leav-ing the dishes as the only shared task on her home-working days. On the other days hecontributes to the laundry – in particular to clearing away the laundry – , to activiteswith children and to shopping.

There was no indication that the start of telecommuting coincided with other majorevents, for instance the birth of a child. Although her partner contributes less to thedomestic tasks since she is working at home, she is of the opinion that men are equallyresponsible for housekeeping and childcare. This household can be typified with thelable: ‘more work for mother’.

8.1.2. No changes, male telecommuter: shared responsibilityTypically, the telecommuting man who does not change the symmetry within hishousehold (28%) is 43 years old and has a high income: more than 3000 Euros permonth. His employer’s office is 27 km away. He has a personal and a lap top computer,a mobile telephone, a separate telephone line, an Internet connection and an ISDN line.He works as a researcher, teacher or consultant and is highly educated. He has a


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fulltime job, and he works at home on three or more days per week. His partner haseither a fulltime or almost fulltime job, or she has no job or a very small part-time job(up to 8 hours per week). They have rather young children.

His household can be characterised as more symmetrical than the one of the femalenon-changing telecommuter. Though still asymmetrical – she does five tasks, theyshare four – he contributes more to the household than the male partner of female tele-commuters. He does – alone or together – the dishwashing and is involved in the shop-ping. Occasionally he picks up the children from school and he also contributes tocleaning and laundering. Childcare and activities with children are shared with hispartner.

This man has a fairly high to high egalitarian attitude. He thinks that women are nomore capable of raising children than men. He agrees in particular with the statementthat men are equally responsible for children and household. Thus this household mightbe termed: ‘shared responsibility’ as a type of response.

8.1.3. No changes, female telecommuter: continued gender differencesHouseholds with a female telecommuter and no detected changes in symmetry (22% oftotal) were, and still are, asymmetrical. She is 40 years old and has children under 4years old. She has worked at home for four years, on a three or more days per weekbasis, in a large part-time job (24 hours per week or more), of which 16 hours per weekat home. Her education can be anything from lower vocational training to universitylevel. Her job could be administrative or managerial, executive or academic. Her in-come starts at 1500 Euros per month. The average distance to her employer’s office is40 km, but often this office is within cycling distance (less than 10 km). Her partnerhas a fulltime job. She has a personal computer, an Internet connection, a separate tele-phone line or ISDN.

The division of domestic tasks within her household was, and is, asymmetrical. Shedid and does six tasks alone, sharing three with her partner. Those shared tasks are thedishes, activities with children and childcare, though this last tasks is mainly done byher. Her partner hardly contributes to the other tasks. Telecommuting enables her tocombine paid work and care. Though the contribution of her partner is minimal, shethinks that childcare is a joint responsibility. An appropriate lable for this householdwould be: ‘continued gender differences’

8.1.4. Becoming more symmetrical: men taking overThe biggest group of households (29%) were those in which the division of domesticlabour became more equal. This group can be typified as containing a male telecom-muter, 44 years old, with a higher vocational or academic training. He has a full-timejob, with an income above 2000 Euros per month. His employer’s office is 40 km di s-tant. He has children, and a partner with a fulltime, or almost fulltime, job.

This man works at home between 8 and 16 hours per week, mostly on two days perweek. There are times, though, when he does some paid work at home every day. Hehas a personal computer, a lap top, a mobile telephone and an Internet connection. Hecan decide his own working hours and has control over his pace of work. He thinks this


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is a very important aspect of telecommuting. He does not work on fixed hours. Sinceworking at home, he does his paid work more efficiently.

Before telecommuting, his partner performed most of the nine daily tasks, theyshared dishwashing, leisure activities with children and shopping. Since he is workingat home, he took over the cooking and the childcare, he gets the children from schooland does the daily shopping. She still does the laundry, including the ironing andclearing away of textiles. The cleaning is done by her, or it is contracted out. Thedishes and activities with children are still undertaken together.

His work is important for him. Typically, he argues that: ‘By telecommuting I candecide over working hours.’ However, family and household take an important place.His opinion is that parents should educate their children themselves. Childcare is ajoint responsibility and men are equally responsible for housekeeping as women. Healso thinks that men automatically take up more family tasks when working at home. Inshort: ‘men taking over’.

8.1.5. Discussing the outcomesThe results of the survey were surprising in several ways. It was assumed that maletelecommuters would not automatically take up more household tasks when working athome. Female telecommuters, on the other hand, would get more domestic tasks, inparticular when the division of tasks was already asymmetrical before they startedworking at home. Families aspiring to a more symmetrical division of labour, mightuse telecommuting as a strategy to realise or enhance this. Furthermore, it was sug-gested that telecommuting would amplify the extent of home-production. It was ex-pected that family-oriented women would positively assess the changes in the directionof a reinforced housewife’s role, whereas career-oriented women would evaluate thisnegatively.

Non of the assumptions above was convincingly supported by results of the survey.Half the male telecommuters did take up more household tasks, more than half of thefemale telecommuters did not change the division of domestic labour within theirhouseholds. The increase of the contribution of male telecommuter was larger than theincrease women showed. Asymmetrical households did not become more asymmetricalafter telecommuting. Also, there was no indication of the utilisation of telecommutingas a strategy to realise an aspired change in the division of domestic labour. There wereonly some indications of the increase of domestic production.

In the subsequent sections these findings will be commented. They will be relatedto some respondents’ characteristics – gender, earner type and education – and to thenormative context of the respondents. Then, the household perspective will be dis-cussed. These sections will be preceded with some methodological considerations.

8.2. Methodological considerationsThe typifications detailed above are mainly based on the 153 family households par-ticipating in the survey. These households represented a variety of forms, incomegroups and professions but cannot be regarded as representative for all Dutch telecom-muters. Every survey, in particular when the sample is not too large, can be criticised


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for potential unrepresentativeness. The opinions of respondents and the way the samplewas recruited might produce a sample with specific characteristics. People who are infavour of a subject – or the ones who are very much against– are always more moti-vated to complete a questionnaire than the ones who are indifferent to the subject. As aconsequence, it is often debatable to what extent results can be extrapolated to thepopulation as a whole.

Since the questionnaire for this survey was rather extensive it could be argued thatit might have attracted respondents with a particular interest in domestic tasks. Re-spondents were recruited via firms with telework projects and, added to those, werepeople who came across the questionnaire through personal contact or via the Internet.When it was possible to identify the respondent’s employing organisation, some insightinto the population was gained, but this was not possible in all cases.

Typical of this research was the distribution of the survey via the Internet. Only oneco-operating firm printed the questionnaire and distributed it on paper among theirtelecommuters. Some fifteen questionnaires came in by post. All others were com-pleted on the computer and submitted online which automatically implied that the re-spondents had access to the Internet. This excluded part of the population, although itis plausible that telecommuters have an above-average Internet access. The advantagesof this method of data collection, discussed in Chapter 6 (Methodological aspects),were obvious. The costs were independent of the number of respondents and could bekept very low. The data could be processed shortly after completion of the forms. Nodata entry was needed. When used in further research, a question about the researchmethod could be added, to learn how respondents evaluate this way of responding.

As with all surveys, the danger of eliciting social acceptable answers existed. Theresearcher tried to avoid this problem in several ways. One was by asking very precisequestions, because it is more difficult to lie distinctly than to lie indistinctly when avague answer will suffice (Swanborn 1971). Therefore, questions were phrased interms of: 'Who is cooking on home-working days?' instead of: 'Are you cooking moreoften since you work at home?'. A second way was to give both positive and negativestatements concerning the same subject, thus not revealing the opinion of the re-searcher. It was necessary to formulate extreme statements, either positive or negative,to discern advocates and opponents of an opinion. If one wanted to know, for instance,whether respondents were in favour of more symmetry within the household, balancedand nuanced statements would not be adequate (Swanborn 1971). To statements like:'people will have to choose for themselves how they divide their tasks', or 'in somecases an equal division of tasks is preferable' advocates and opponents of symmetrywill probably both return 'agree'. Although the questionnaire contained items both infavour of symmetry as well as items that spoke against it, several respondents experi-enced the survey as being tendentious. Some of them thought the researcher focusedtoo much on the traditional family consisting of a heterosexual couple with children.Others, conversely, accused the researcher of being too much in favour of equal shar-ing. Apparently, one type of statements provoked irritation among some respondents,while others reacted to the opposite statements. A survey is not the most suitable in-strument to study ambiguous, paradoxical feelings and opinions. The richness of hu-man thoughts and the variety of possibilities disappear when the answers are curtailedinto structured answer categories. These do not leave the option of differentiated an-


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swers of the type: 'Yes, provided that… ' or 'No, unless… ' If one nevertheless wants touse a survey to gain an insight into not quite crystallised opinions, then the phrasing ofquestions and statements is very important. Any wording that does not exactly repre-sent the feeling of the individual respondent might evoke negative reactions even whenthe respondent basically agrees with the idea expressed.

Several studies point to the fact that both men and women overestimate their ownshare in the housework (Hochschild 1989; Keuzenkamp et al. 2000). Hochschild dis-cusses, in The second shift (1989), the myth many couples maintain. She illustrates thismechanism with the couple that agreed on the fact that they had divided the domesticwork evenly: he did downstairs, she upstairs. When observing this couple, it appearedthat 'downstairs' contained one room, in which the man kept his model railway system.He cleaned this himself. She did all the rest of the housework. This research did notproduce enough data to reveal an overestimation or existing myth. In-depth interviewsare needed to uncover any similar myths or distortions employed by telecommuters.

In a survey, when a relationship between two phenomena is found, this does notnecessarily indicate a cause-and-effect relationship. It can also be a matter of synchro-nism or it may concern a spurious relationship, meaning that the changes are bothcaused by a third variable. In 33 percent of the cases the start of telecommuting coin-cided with other major events, like a new job or the birth of a child. In particular, it isknown that this latter event, more often than not, results in a redefinition of householdunderstandings and daily routines (Droogleever Fortuijn 1993; Felstead and Jewson2000; Keuzenkamp et al. 2000). Therefore it can be questioned if all reported changesare really a result of telecommuting or of the other reported events. Since a longitudinalstudy was not feasible, answers about the past had to be given from the respondent’smemory. This was sometimes difficult, especially for those who had worked at homealready for many years. A similar comment could be made about task-oriented attitudestowards paid work. Changes in this respect could also be a result of simultaneouschanges in wider society.

Analysing the results, and comparing them with the existing literature – some ofwhich were published recently and after this survey was initiated –showed that somequestions should have been phrased differently and others should have been added. Forinstance, a few statements appeared to be ambiguously formulated. In particular thiswas the case with the attitude statements, as already mentioned in Chapter 7 (Results).

To define different concepts for this research, the home economics model presentedin Chapter 4 (Theoretical framework), on one hand served as a checklist and, on theother, limited the scope of the study. Central themes were the division of labour – inparticular within the home – and attitudes towards paid and unpaid work, with specialattention to gender differences. The survey focused on the actual execution of ninedomestic tasks. Household tasks with a strong managerial element in them – planningmeals, checking what is needed, making a shopping list – were left out of considera-tion. From the literature it was known that these tasks in particular are gender-biased.Even when men do the housekeeping, women are often still the housewife – managingthe domestic labour, organising and controlling the daily routines – with their partnerhelping them. A housewife is not just performing a task; being a housewife can beregarded as an existence, a status which is difficult for men to achieve. These delicate


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differences are difficult to catch in survey questions and can better be studied using in-depth taped interviews.

8.3. Respondents’ characteristics

8.3.1. Gender differencesGender – and gender differences – was a main theme in this study. It was assumed thatthe impact of telecommuting on the division of labour within couples would be gender-related. The survey indeed showed gender differences, but the direction of these differ-ences was not always as expected. Generally, the survey showed decreasing genderdifferences within the examined telecommuters families. Only the washing and ironingshowed – as Wheelock (1990) found – strong gender differentiation. Overwhelmingly,these were tasks undertaken by women. Within the group of ‘shared responsibility’,some men actually contributed to the laundry. In the group of ‘men taking over’, theyleft the laundry to their partners. Wheelock observed that vacuum cleaning was oftenshared or done by the husband. There might be a difference in culture between NorthEast England and the Netherlands, because the contribution of men in this research –and in other Dutch research (De Hart 1995) – is no match for that of women. The shareof partners of female telecommuters decreased since telecommuting. The task waseither taken over by the telecommuter herself or by paid domestic help.

Literature (Fothergill 1994; Fitzgerald and Winter 2001) and the interviewees in1996 suggested that women would be more sensitive to their surroundings and to thefact that they always see housework to do when working at home. In 2001 61 percentof the respondents disagreed with this statement. Only 5 percent indicated that theypaid too much attention to household and family. However, only women agreed withthe statement ‘By working at home, I am always the one who has to do everything inthe house’. We do not know if the respondents of the survey were very different fromthe interviewees, or if culture had changed in the meantime. The number of workingwomen increased – and still increases – and working at home became more common.As a consequence it might be easier for home-working women to resist the pressurefrom the environment – family, friends – to pay attention to them when being at home.

The increase of tasks performed by male respondents corresponds with generaltrends in society and marks a tendency to an increased participation of men in house-hold activities. Combinations of care and paid work are desired by many couples. Anincreasing number of men are involved in childcare (Volkskrant 23 December 2000). InApril 2001 the Dutch parliament passed a law on labour and care, which regulates ca-reer interruptions, parental leave and caring leave (Volkskrant 20 April 2001). Thisillustrates that caring is taken seriously, not only by the public, but also by the Dutchgovernment. Though a hopeful conclusion for everyone who argues for a combinationscenario and wants to share both paid and unpaid labour evenly, cynics could makesome critical remarks here. Recent research proves that women suffer more from theincreased strains of paid work than men from their increased contribution to domesticduties (Breedveld 2000; Keuzenkamp en Oudhof 2000). When men are taking over themost rewarding part of the domestic life – cooking and childcare – it can be questionedhow much women gain from this.


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8.3.2. Earner type and educationOne of the assumptions for the survey was that female partners of male telecommuterswould do more in the house, because there would be more work to do. This assumptiondid not prove to be true. As stated in Chapter 4 (Theoretical framework), the divisionof unpaid labour is closely related to the division of paid labour. The Netherlands has ahigh proportion of one-and-a-half-earner household types. The respondents in this sur-vey were no exception to this rule. The majority of households had one-and-a-half-earners, women having smaller jobs than their male partners. Thus, it is not surprisingthat the contribution of women to domestic labour is also larger than that of their part-ners. From other research it is known that men’s contribution to household tasks is to alarge extent dependent on the amount of hours their partners are away from home(Wheelock 1990). Since most of the partners of the sharing men had large part-time orfulltime jobs, they were not available all the time. The others had no or small part-timejobs. Any effect of these smaller jobs on the behaviour of the telecommuting mencould not be observed from the data available. However, the single earners did changeless than the households with one-and-a-half-earners or double incomes. This corre-sponds with findings of Keuzenkamp et al. (2000), who note that single-earner house-holds are the least oriented towards the combination of employment and care and amore equal division of tasks between partners. They attach greater value to traditionalmale-female relationships (see also Chapter 4, Theoretical framework). The one-and-a-half-earners changed more than average in a more traditional direction, the double-income households changed in the direction of more symmetry. This last conclusioncorresponds with the conclusion of Wheelock: the more the woman works outside thehome, the more the man contributes to the domestic labour. Keuzenkamp et al. (2000)also found that double-earners were most oriented towards a non-traditional division oftasks.

A remarkable outcome was the relationship between education and symmetry.Women with a university background changed more than average in a traditional di-rection. This is remarkable, because the popular view is that poorly educated womenare more likely to work at home. Felstead and Jewson (2000) disputed this view. Theyfound that better qualified women are more likely to work at home. The outcome cor-responds with findings in the interviews in 1996. Then also the more highly educatedwomen referred – against expectations – to family-oriented motives to work at homeand emphasised their desire to continue their career and yet have children. Telecom-muting facilitated this combination.

8.4. Normative contextGenerally, the normative context is regarded as the most important, though not suffi-cient, determinant for the division of labour (Van der Lippe 1993; Droogleever Fortuijn1993; Baanders 1998; Pennartz and Niehof 1999). The degree of egalitarianism de-serves particular attention. Though all men in this research showed a fairly high to veryhigh degree of egalitarianism, there seemed to be no association with their contributionto household tasks. On the contrary: the men with the highest score on the egalitarian-


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ism scale were the ones who contributed the least and vice versa. Some respondentsremarked that they had answered 'disagree' to some statements, not because they re-jected equal sharing, but because they thought that nobody has to share tasks evenly. Ifnot desired, not appropriate, or not feasible in their situation, people can make otherchoices. This emphasis on free choice is also mentioned by Keuzenkamp et al. (2000).They state that many Dutch couples choose for a one-and-a-half-earner model. Womenwant to have paid jobs, but not necessarily full time. They want to share paid labour,but not necessarily equally. Keuzenkamp et al. think it is probably typically Dutch toemphasise that women may work but do not have to. This freedom results in differentsolutions, different caring arrangements and different earner types. This freedom alsomeans that Dutch families are confronted with dilemmas: an egalitarian society versusfreedom to choose, career ambitions versus family life.

The fact that a deliberate change in the division of domestic labour is not very im-portant for the respondents, also comes to light in the responses to the question: ‘Didyou start telecommuting because you wanted a different division of labour? The hy-pothesis suggested that telecommuters might utilise telecommuting practices as ameans to realise a desired change in the division of domestic tasks. Only 4 percent ofthe respondents agreed with this thought. We must conclude that – though many re-spondents did change their household arrangements – no relationship could be detectedbetween the wish to do so and the motives to start telecommuting. Some respondentswarned: telecommuting should be applied to improve productivity or to serve the well-being of the employees, not to solve other problems like a lack of childcare facilities,traffic congestion or a family-friendly policy of employers.

The hypothesis assumed that, in particular, asymmetrical, family-oriented house-holds would become more asymmetrical. The households that became more asymmet-rical in this survey, were not asymmetrical before. This group originally shared mosttasks. Since telecommuting, these women performed on their home-working days al-most all tasks. As mentioned before, the women in this group all had a good education,most of them received academic schooling. They did not indicate that the start of tele-commuting coincided with other major changes, like the birth of a child. They showeda very high degree of egalitarian attitude. They did not think that children should havea mother at home. Their partners had fulltime jobs, but that is not discriminative forthis group. All these facts do not explain why this group did so much more in the housethan before. They agreed on the statement: ‘Telecommuting makes the combination ofwork and care possible’ and evaluated their situation as positive (79% of women did).The fact that they just want to combine paid work with domestic tasks could be anexplanation for the changed pattern. However, this will need more research to clarifythe meaning and extent of such changes.

Other possible explanations for the observed patterns can only be speculative. Thesurvey did not produce clear, straightforward and unambiguous conclusions. However,this corresponds with general trends in society as well. As argued in Chapter 3 (Tele-work in the content of societal change) and 4 (Theoretical framework) individualityand multiformity are characteristics of modern society. People make their own choicesout of the magnitude of available possibilities, thus creating their own arrangements.On the other hand, household patterns are subject to normative structures and morality.Moral obligations and expectations are built up in long-standing relationships within


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families. Those obligations and expectations, ideals and unwritten rules, make thathousehold arrangements do not follow the rules of the market economy and do noteasily change (Felstead and Jewson 2000). In relation to the resilience of the householdto change, Pennartz and Niehof (1999: 206) refer to the household as a ‘context of con-densed morality’. This moral character of the family household might be an explan a-tion for the fact that some of the observed households became or remainedasymmetrical, even when the opinions of the respondents concerned were egalitarian.

8.5. The household perspectiveIn Chapter 5 (Exploring the field) it is argued that the vicinity of paid and unpaid workwithin the telecommuters’ home would mutually affect both spheres (Nowotny 1982;Haddon 1998; Felstead and Jewson 2000). This research aimed to establish the extentof these effects. By taking a home economics perspective – as elaborated in Chapter 4(Theoretical framework) – this research had the household as its entity of analysis. Itstudied the standard of care (the normative context), the application of resources, thedomestic activities, the level of care and the strategies used to bring standard of careand level of care into conformity within the domestic setting. This resulted in an inter-disciplinary approach, by which a variety of aspects were brought together, with thedomestic activities as point of departure. Next to that, economic and technologicalaspects – made concrete in questions about available resources and financing methods– were taken into account. This research showed that – for these respondents – tele-commuting definitely had its effect on the way domestic tasks were performed and theway these tasks were divided between partners. Vice versa, by working in the domesticenvironment, aspects of the paid work changed as well. Many respondents indicatedthat they performed their paid work more efficiently and with more satisfaction sinceworking at home. Though the mutual influence was obvious, the respondents did notindicate that they experienced the paid work as intrusive on the domestic sphere.

As discussed in Chapter 5 (Exploring the field) and Chapter 4 (Theoretical frame-work), the household plays an important mediating role between society and individual,in particular in times of social change. Relevant recent changes – as discussed inChapter 3 (Telecommuting in the context of societal change) – are the development oftelecommuting as part of more general developments towards new, flexible forms ofworking and the emergence of a combination scenario, in which families are combin-ing paid labour with caring tasks. From the data available, it could not be establishedhow exactly the participating households played their mediating role and reacted onsocial changes. Nevertheless, a tendency to a combination scenario was at least plausi-ble: 60 percent of the respondents (59% male, 61% female) saw the combination ofpaid labour and childcare as possible.

It was argued, that one of the aspects of an integrated approach is that it leavesroom for paradoxes and ambiguity. A survey is not the best method to do justice toambiguity. However, the preceding interviews, but also the answers to open questions,showed that the respondents experienced telecommuting in many different ways andwere not restricted to standardised telecommuting practices.

In Chapter 2 (Telework definitions), definitions and descriptions of telecommutingand telecommuters' jobs have been given. The telecommuters who took part in this


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research – the interviews and group discussion, as well as the IDC-research and thesurvey – correspond with these descriptions. They did have all kind of jobs, they wereto be found amongst men and women, they lived dispersed over the country. The de-velopment of the discussion on telecommuting was also reflected in this research.Telecommuting cannot longer be defined as an isolated phenomenon, realised in spe-cial projects. Telecommuting equipment has become an integrated part of all modernnetworks, and of households as well. Organisational principles needed for telecom-muting, such as task-oriented management, have become part of management culturein general. In particular in response to the open questions of the survey, the respon-dents indicated that their work was flexible, that they did not fit into prescribed pat-terns, and that the way they organised their household arrangements were flexible aswell. Thus they reflected the multiformity of modern society.

8.6. Recommendations for further researchThis study was undertaken to explore the relationship of telecommuting and householdactivities, in particular the division of labour between partners of opposite sex. Someanswers have been given, but this study is no exception to others in that it evokes morequestions than answers. Some of those questions will be summarised here.

More research is needed to know if the observed increase in symmetry is really aresult of telecommuting per se, or a reflection of general cultural change. Also furtherresearch is needed to investigate the caring arrangements, the agreements and house-hold understandings telecommuters deploy. The content of household activities was asubject touched upon in this research, but it needs further research to discover if tele-commuting in the long run will create more home production, different cooking prac-tices, etceteras. It was suggested that telecommuters would be a main target group fortele-shopping combined with home delivery. Here also more research is needed. Moregenerally, the suggestion that telecommuting would lead to a decrease of outsourcingdomestic tasks should be explored further. Within the scope of this study, the signifi-cance of the home for telecommuters was only touched upon. This very important issuedeserves a study of its own.

On a theoretical level, the question of time and task orientation is interesting. Thisresearch suggested that paid work becomes more task-oriented, partly because of tele-commuting, partly because of the dynamics of the work itself. The hypothesis thatdomestic labour would become more time-oriented when performed in the vicinity ofpaid labour, was not confirmed. Here further research could give more insight on thissubject.

One of the ideas behind this research was that policy makers and organisationsshould take account of the home front when implementing telecommuting. If house-hold members of telecommuters do not accept their being home, or if home is not thebenign place that it is often assumed to be, then telecommuting projects are doomed tofailure. Guidelines for telecommuting projects (Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat1995; Hengstemengel 2000) mention the importance of a good balance between workand private life. Hengstmengel remarks in this respect that the more appeal the organi-sation makes to the worker, the more important the attitudes in his or her social envi-ronment – of the partner and children, friends and relatives – are. The more the


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organisation asks from its employee, the more it has to empathise with his or her indi-vidual situation. Hengstmengel (2000) points to the paradox that arises here: while theemployee becomes more and more independent, the organisation should pay moreattention to his or her personal environment. The results of this research, in particularthe impact of telecommuting on domestic labour and the impact of the domestic envi-ronment on the quality of the paid labour, can contribute to this debate.

This research supported the idea that boundaries are blurring and that telecommut-ers make an effort to balance both worlds. However, more research is needed to knowwhere the limits exactly are. How flexible are the teleworkers? Do they really want tochange the rhythm of the working week, which is still firmly embedded in Dutch cul-ture? How much do telecommuters differ in this respect from non-home-working em-ployees?

8.7. Epilogue: blurring boundariesSix years separate the start of this research project and the completion of this disserta-tion. When I started, only a few authors had paid attention to the domestic aspects oftelecommuting. Telecommuting itself – though twenty years in existence – was still inits infancy. The discussion seemed to attract fierce advocates or opponents, who re-garded telecommuting either as panacea or as an impracticable way of work. It wasidealised or rejected. In those six years the situation changed. Especially in the lastyear, the development seemed to gain momentum. The number of telecommuters in-creased, telecommuting was placed on the agenda of policy makers and managers.Structural developments, increasing traffic problems and cultural changes, combinedwith technological possibilities, made it more common. This development was appar-ent in the course of this research project. By the end of 2000, it was easier to find tele-commuters than in the beginning, and even easier than it was the year before.

Paradoxically, the increasing incidence of telecommuting caused a declining inter-est in the subject as such. The required technology and organisational practices havebecome intrinsic parts of reorganisation processes in general. Thus separate telecom-muting projects became less and less necessary. In the meantime, the limits of currentdevelopments were disputed. Complaints about work stress, difficulties with the com-bination of care and work, projects supporting a more modern program of the day aresome examples, touched upon in this study. Consequently, the discussion about tele-commuting and the solutions that telecommuters find to manage the boundaries be-tween work and private life, are differentiated. The modularisation of daily life comesinto effect in the caring arrangements of different households.

This thesis started with a quote of Hareven:

'Family and work, the two most central commitments in most people's lives, haveemerged as themes in recent social history, but the relationship between thesetwo areas has not been closely considered' (Hareven 1982: i).

It was noted that recently the two areas of work and home come closer together, sinceinformation and communication technology, on one hand, and societal changes on theother disconnect work from time and space. This thesis throws some light on the way


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households arrange their domestic life when the boundaries between work and privatelife are blurring. The study of the private domain seems to be of increasing signifi-cance, since in domestic labour norms and values, equality and disparity, gender issuesand quality of life are implied. Many major issues in current society – from food safetyto domestic energy use, from individualisation to flexibilisation – require an insightinto the functioning of the home. For that reason it is striking that the subject area ofhome economics is marginalised. Not only at Wageningen University, but everywherein the world, home economics is undergoing a name change to consumer studies or isbe combined with business administration or marketing studies to become a differentsubject area. Though regrettable, the blurring boundaries in fact provide the rationalefor this development. The boundaries between work and domestic life, between con-sumer and producer, between public sphere and private sphere, and between humansand technology, are not as clear as they have been under industrialisation. An inversionof the product chain – from market push to demand pull – is generally regarded as acharacteristic of recent societal change. Thus post-modernity gives a new impulse to anew direction.

However, ignoring the specific contribution of home economics or householdstudies amounts to throwing away the baby with the bath water. In the process outlinedabove, home economists should preserve the achievements of home economics (orhousehold studies) and build on these. These achievements consist of knowledge andskills relating to the study of domestic activities and an interdisciplinary, integrativeapproach. This approach has always been the heart of the subject area, and have beenpart of this study as well.

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Addendum: Operationalisation

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Here the full operationalisation process is presented. The first column represents theconcepts used. The second column the elements observed. In the third column, theindicators are to be found that are assigned to these elements, in so far relevant for thesurvey in this research. The last two columns represent the accompanying questionsand used answer categories. The questionnaire consisted of the last two columns.

A. General characteristics

The householdConcept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesHousehold Composition:

size, demo-graphic data

Respon-dents’charac-teristics

What is your age? …

Are you manwoman

Are you married or livingwith a partner?

yesno

Othermembersof thefamily

How is your householdcomposed?

male female

4-12 y13-1819-2425-4445-64> 65

Special char-acteristics

Specialsituation,illness orhandicap

Are there special personalcircumstances that influ-ence your working athome?

yes, …..no


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesCoincid-ing withotherimportantchanges

Did other importantchanges in your life occurat the time you startedworking at home?

noyes, namely:birth of childmove to different placefirst paid jobnew, different jobdifferent, i.e.: …

Other mem-bers of thefamily

Moretelecom-muters inthe house-hold?

Does one of the othermembers of the familywork at home?

not applicablenoyes, i.e.: (part-ner/parent/child)

amount ofhours: …

amount of days:…

Employment situationConcept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesEmploy-ment situa-tion

Current em-ploymentsituation

Type ofwork,status

How would you charac-terise your current em-ployment situation?

executive, managerialprofessional, policymakerresearchertechniciansales personteacheradministrative employeemanufacturingother, i.e. …

Incomeclass

In which income class isyour household situated?

Less than NLG 1500,-1500-25002500-35003500-45004500-55005500-65006500-7500over 7500

Education What is your highesteducation?

Primary schoolLower vocational trainingSecondary schoolMiddle vocational train-ingHigher vocational trainingUniversity

Size ofcompany

How many employees hasyour company in theNetherlands?

Less than 1010-100over 100

Characte-ristic ofcompany

What kind of company doyou work?

ProfitNon-profit


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesWorkinghours

amount ofhoursemployed

Of how many hours doesyou paid job consist?

0-89-1617-2425-3233 or more

Telecommu-ting situation

sincewhentelecom-muting

Since when are youworking from home?

Month / year

Incidentalor regular

What is the most accuratedescription of your tele-commuting situation?

Take work home evrynow and thenWork at home on fixeddays by oral agreementWork at home on fixeddays by written agreementDifferently, i.e. ….

Averageamount ofhoursworking athome

How many hours perweek are you workingfrom home on the average

0-89-1617-2425-3233 or more

on howmany days

On how many days doyou work at home?

12345 or more

the onlytelecom-muter incompanyor de-partmentor part ofa group

How many people of yourdepartment (company)work at home on a regularbasis?

I am the only oneLess than half of the staffMore than half

locationwhen notworking athome

Where do you work whenyou are not working athome?

Employer’s officeCustomer’s officeDifferently, i.e. ….

Type of work autonomyand flexi-bility

Can you, while workingat home, choose your ownworking hours?

YesNoDifferently, i.e. ….

Do you, when working athome, work on fixedhours?

YesNoDifferently, i.e. ….

Former situa-tion

work donebeforetele-commut-ing

What was your situationbefore you started work-ing at home

Worked outdoors …hoursHad no paid jobDifferently, i.e. ….


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesSituationmembers ofthe family

othermembersof thefamilyhavingpaid jobs

Do more members of yourhousehold have a paidjob?

No, I am the only oneYes, i.e. …., working …hours

B. Possession and use of resources

AvailabilityConcept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesResources(availa-bility)

Technicalresources

Availabil-ity, fi-nancing(who ispaying)

Indicate which of thefollowing resources youpossess for your work andwho is responsible for thefinancing.Computer (PC) employer / me / bothLap top computer employer / me / bothPrinter employer / me / bothScanner employer / me / bothSpecial software employer / me / bothAnswering machine employer / me / bothFax (analogue) employer / me / both(Fax)modem employer / me / bothPhotocopier employer / me / bothCellular phone employer / me / bothSeparate telephone line employer / me / bothInternet connection employer / me / bothISDN connection employer / me / bothSeparate study employer / me / bothFurniture employer / me / bothExtra outlets (power,telephone etc)

employer / me / both

Heating employer / me / bothCar employer / me / bothPublic transport seasonticket

employer / me / both

Other, i.e. …. employer / me / bothDoes your employer offerspecial login facilities

Yes, i.e. …No

Influence(did theavailabil-ity influ-ence thedecision)

Did the availability ofresources influence yourdecision to work fromhome?(indicate yes or no or n.a.)

StudyHardware / softwareConnectionsCarOther


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesother use(are theresourcesused forprivateactivities)

Are the resources used forother applications?

Schoolwork childrenEducation adultsTele-banking, -shoppingCommunication withfriends and relativesVolunteer workHobby, sports

Accommo-dation

location,urbanisa-tion,distance toemployer

In which municipality doyou live?

Select from a list

How would you charac-terise your environment?

UrbanFairly urbanNot urban

How far do you live fromyour employer

… km… minutes commu ting

How far did you live fromyour employer before youstarted telecommuting

… km… minutes commu ting

If you go to your em-ployer’s office, do you gothere by:

Walking / bicycleMoped / motorbike / carPublic transport

Did your housing condi-tions and environmentinfluence your decision tostart telecommuting?

YesNoRemarks: …

size ofhouse

How big is your house?(amount of rooms, kitchenand bathroom excluded)

12345 or more

Human capital Skills,motiva-tion,knowl-edge

Did you have enoughknowledge and skills atyour disposal to handlethe telecommuting hard-and software?

YesNoRemarks: …

Are you being supportedby your employer withinstallation or problemswith hard- and software

YesNoRemarks: …

Changes in applicationConcept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesChanges inapplicationof resources

Time andmoney

more/lesstime andmoney forhome-makingand family

Indicate for the followingactivities if you spend lessor more time or money onit, since you are workingfrom home and estimatethe amount of time ormoney


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesTime for householdchores

less / same / more

Paid domestic help less / same / moreExpenditures on eatingout

less / same / more

Expenditures on conven-ience food

less / same / more

Time for meals (eating) less / same / moreTime for preparation ofmeals

less / same / more

Amount of hours child-care

less / same / more

Expenditures on childcare less / same / moreTime for children less / same / moreAttention for children less / same / moreElectricity less / same / moreHeating less / same / moreTelephone less / same / moreShopping (total time) less / same / moreShopping (how manytimes a week)

less / same / more

other Here you can completethe above

Remarks: …

C. Motives and opinions to work at home

Standard of careConcept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesStandard ofcare

family orcareer ori-ented

motivesfor tele-commu-ting

Indicate below how im-portant these argumentswere in your decision towork from home

Five points scale rankingfrom very unimportant (1)to very important (5)

Work better, more con-centrated at home

1-5

Want to care for childrenmyself

1-5

Save commuting time 1-5Childcare too expensive 1-5Childcare not available 1-5Can determine ownworking tempo

1-5

Can determine ownworking hours

1-5

Can spend more time tohousehold and family

1-5

No other job available 1-5Cannot get along withcolleagues

1-5


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesNo room for me in theoffice

1-5

Difficult to work outsidethe home because ofillness or handicap

1-5

Could keep my job de-spite moving

1-5

Could keep job despitemoving of the company

1-5

Can better pursue hobby /sport

1-5

Other ….symmetricalor asymmetri-cal

opinionsconcern-ing differ-encesbetweenmen andwomen

Indicate below if youagree or disagree with thestatements

Five points scale rankingfrom totally disagree (1)to totally agree (5)

Parents should educatetheir children as much aspossible

1-5

Women can better raisesmall children than men

1-5

It is more important for aman to have a good jobthan for a woman

1-5

Man and woman shouldshare domestic labourequally

1-5

Childcare is equally theresponsibility of the manas of the woman

1-5

Man and woman shouldshare paid labour equally

1-5

Paid labour comes in thefirst place; leisure timeand family have to beorganised around that

1-5

The household is equallythe responsibility of theman as of the woman

1-5

Children are most bene-fited by a mother who isthere when they comehome from school

1-5

When women start tele-commuting, they auto-matically take up morehousehold chores thanbefore

1-5


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesBy telecommuting, paidlabour and childcare canbe combined

1-5

When men start telecom-muting, they automati-cally take up more house-hold chores than before

1-5

time or taskoriented

Opinionsconcern-ing thework andleisuretime

Family and leisure timeshould come in the firstplace; working hours areadjusted to that as muchas possible

1-5

Work and leisure timeshould be separated asmuch as possible

1-5

Paid labour is a necessaryevil; you need the moneyto live

1-5

D. Changes in household activities

Internal division of labourConcept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesInternaldivision oflabour

changes indivision ofdomesticlabour

Indicate below who doeswhat

Foodprepara-tion

Who is cooking on thedays you work at home?

me / partner / both / other

Who does it on the otherdays?


Who was cooking(chiefly) before yourstarted working fromhome?


Dishes Who is doing the disheson the days you work athome?




Who did it before yourstarted working fromhome?


Cleaning Who is doing the sweep-ing / hoovering on thedays you work at home?





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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesWho did it before yourstarted working fromhome?


laundry Who is doing the laundryon the days you work athome?






Who is clearing away thelaundry on the days youwork at home?






takingcare forchildren

Who is taking care for thechildren on the days youwork at home?






Who is doing leisureactivities with the chil-dren (reading, walking,playing) on the days youwork at home?






Who is getting childrenfrom school on the daysyou work at home?






(daily)shopping

Who is doing the dailyshopping on the days youwork at home?





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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesWho did it before yourstarted working fromhome?


E. Assessment and feedback

AssessmentConcept Element Indicator Question/item VariableAssessmentof changes

Quality ofdaily care

Indicate below if youagree or disagree with thestatements

Five points scale rankingfrom totally disagree tototally agree

attentionfor thechildren

Since I work at home thechildren get more atten-tion

1-5

changes infoodpatterns

Since I work at home Ispend more time on meals

1-5

changes inthe stateof thehouse

Since I work at homehouse and garden lookbetter

1-5

Relation work– private life

spill-over Since I work at home Ihave more attention forhousehold chores andchildcare

1-5

When I work at home Ialways see housework tobe done

1-5

Since I work at home I domy paid job with moresatisfaction

1-5

Since I work at home 1-5Because I work at homethe whole family ‘works’with me

1-5

more orless taskoriented

Since I work at home I domy paid job less hurried (Ido not count my hours somuch, I pay more atten-tion to quality)

1-5

Since I work at home I domy paid job more effi-ciently

1-5

domesticlabourmore orless timeoriented

Since I work at home I domy domestic labour moreefficiently / systematically

1-5


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item VariableSince I work at home I domy domestic labour lesssystematically because Ican do it in between

1-5

Quality ofhouse andhousing con-ditions

living inbeautifulhouse ornice sur-roundings

By working at home itwas possible (finally) tolive where I wanted

1-5

Quality ofdaily life

content-ment withdaily life

It is good to get the bestof both worlds

1-5

Telecommuting is not myfirst choice, but the leastbad in my circumstances

1-5

Asymmetry,family orien-tation

ownopinionsabout thedivision oflabourbetweenmen andwomen

By working at home, Ipay too much attention tohousehold and family

1-5

Because I am working athome, I am (fortunately)always there for myhousemates

1-5

expecta-tions ofthe envi-ronment

By working at home, I amalways the one who has todo everything in the house

1-5

StrategiesConcept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesStrategies:tuningactual anddesiredsituation

Segmentation segmenta-tion inroom

Do you use a separatestudy for your paid la-bour?

yesno

segmenta-tion intime

Are you working on fixedworking hours?

yesno

segmenta-tion inresources

Are you using a separatetelephone line and answe-ring machine to separatework and private life?

yesno


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Concept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriessegmenta-tion inagree-ments,rules andbehaviour

Did you make agreementsabout computer and tele-phone use with yourhousemates?

yesno

Telecommu-ting as astrategy

telecom-mutingmakes adifferentdivision oflabourpossible

Did you start telecom-muting because youwanted a different divi-sion of labour?

yesno

does therespon-dent thinkthat tele-commut-ing isideal

Do you think telecom-muting is the ideal solu-tion?

YesNo

limitationof disad-vantages

If not, what conditionsshould be fulfilled tomake it the ideal solution?

Remarks: …

What do you do to limitthe disadvantages oftelecommuting

Remarks: …

F. Final questions and remarksConcept Element Indicator Question/item Answer categoriesFinal ques-tions andremarks

Other remarks Other Do you have other re-marks about telecom-muting or about thisresearch?

Remarks: …

Willingness toco-operate infurther re-search

Indicationof will-ingness

Are you disposed toanswer further questions?

If yes, please give your e-mail address.

Interest inresearchresults

Indicationof interest

Do you want to receive asummary of this research?

If yes, please give your e-mail address.

Samenvatting in het Nederlands

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Telewerken en huishoudingSinds de industriële revolutie verdient het grootste deel van de werkende bevolkingzijn of haar geld in loondienst buitenshuis. Sinds die tijd bestaat er een bijna striktescheiding van openbare en privé-sfeer. Deze scheiding lijkt de laatste decennia weer tevervagen. Informatie- en communicatietechnologie (ICT) kan de afstand tussen werken thuis overbruggen, waardoor het mogelijk wordt onafhankelijk van tijd en plaats tewerken. Telewerken staat inmiddels op de agenda van veel bedrijven en instellingen,waarbij diverse motieven een rol kunnen spelen. Telewerken wordt ingezet als middelom verkeers- en ruimteproblemen op te lossen, om de productiviteit te verhogen en omtegemoet te komen aan de behoefte van werknemers aan een grotere autonomie enflexibiliteit. Overheden stimuleren telewerken uit milieuoverwegingen, of om de par-ticipatie te bevorderen van moeilijk bereikbare of economisch zwakke regio’s. Hetcombineren van betaalde arbeid en een gezin kan ook een reden zijn.

Veel onderzoek naar telewerken heeft een economische of arbeidssociologische in-valshoek. Dergelijke onderzoeken bestuderen veranderingen in de productiviteit, debeleving van de werknemer of de managementcultuur. Ook zijn er onderzoeken gedaanvanuit het oogpunt van verkeer en ruimtelijke ordening. Tot nu toe is de thuissituatieslechts in enkele onderzoekingen onderwerp van studie geweest. Het is aannemelijk dattelethuiswerk de taakverdeling binnenshuis beïnvloedt en mogelijk ook invloed heeftop de inhoud van de huishoudelijke arbeid.

Deze studie heeft die huishoudelijke arbeid als invalshoek, in het bijzonder de ver-deling van arbeid tussen mannen en vrouwen. Het onderzoek is uitgevoerd in het kadervan het project onbezoldigd promoveren voor vrouwen aan Wageningen Universiteit.

TelewerkenHet antwoord op de vraag hoeveel telewerkers er in Nederland zijn loopt uiteen van137.000 tot 400.000. De grote verschillen zijn niet alleen het gevolg van het feit dat hetaantal moeilijk te meten is, maar komen ook voort uit de verschillende interpretatiesvan het begrip telewerken. In het Engels worden de termen ‘telework’ en ‘telecom-muting’ naast elkaar – en soms door elkaar – gebruikt. De eerste is de meer generieke


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term, die iedere vorm van werken op afstand met behulp van moderne informatie- encommunicatietechnologie behelst. Hieronder valt bijvoorbeeld ook het uitbesteden vandata entry of programmeerwerk aan lagelonenlanden. De tweede term zou vertaaldkunnen worden met ‘teleforensen’, meestal beschouwd als synoniem van het Nede r-landse ‘telethuiswerk’. Deze studie hanteert de volgende werkdefinitie vantelethuiswerkers:

Werknemers die minstens één dag per week in hun eigen woonomgeving werken,waarbij zij gebruik maken van moderne informatie- en communicatietechnologieen daarbij de beschikking hebben over dezelfde faciliteiten als op het kantoorvan hun werkgever.

Telethuiswerk onderscheidt zich van traditioneel thuiswerk doordat ook banen die meeropleiding en ervaring vereisen op deze wijze worden uitgevoerd.

Telewerken is niet een op zichzelf staand fenomeen. De ontwikkeling van dezevorm van arbeid past in algemene maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen van de twintigsteen de eenentwintigste eeuw. Decentrale besluitvorming in bedrijven en decentraleverwerking van informatie, gepaard aan centrale sturing, soms op wereldschaal, zijnmogelijk door de toepassing van netwerken die vervolgens ook voor telewerk gebruiktkunnen worden. Aansturing van werknemers op output in plaats van op aanwezigheidis voor telewerken noodzakelijk, maar neemt ook zonder dat in veel bedrijven toe. Eengrotere autonomie en flexibiliteit van werknemers, met meer aandacht van vaders voorzorgtaken, is een algemene trend, waarbij telewerken een voorwaarde kan zijn.

Theoretisch kader: huishoudkundig modelVoor de analyse van de veranderingen in de thuissituatie als gevolg van telewerken, ishet huishoudkundig model als uitgangspunt genomen. In dit model staan dehuishoudelijke activiteiten centraal, bestaande uit de verwerving van hulpbronnen, dehuishoudelijke productie en de huishoudelijke consumptie. Deze functies zijn on-derwerp van besluitvorming, planning en organisatie, en daadwerkelijke uitvoering metbetrekking tot de categorieën voeding, wonen, textiel, zorg voor leden van hethuishouden en anderen. De huishoudelijke activiteiten vinden plaats in het kader vaneen huishouden, een eenheid van bij elkaar wonende personen met een gezamenlijkehuishoudvoering. Het huishouden heeft de beschikking over hulpbronnen – menselijkeen niet-menselijke, alsmede hulpbronnen uit de omgeving – en bepaalt haar doelen opbasis van een normatieve context: de normen, waarden en opvattingen met betrekkingtot de huishoudvoering. Dit wordt ook wel de levensstandaard of verzorgingsstandaardgenoemd. Het resultaat van de huishoudelijke handelingen is het levensniveau of ver-zorgingsniveau. De mate waarin dit verzorgingsniveau voldoet aan de verzorgings-standaard bepaalt het welbevinden van het huishouden. Bij eventuele afwijkingen kanieder deel van het model – het huishouden, de middelen, de standaard of de wijzewaarop de activiteiten worden uitgevoerd – aangepast worden.

In de sfeer van de huishouding zijn de hierboven aangeduide maatschappelijkeontwikkelingen voelbaar. Het aantal vrouwen op de arbeidsmarkt is de afgelopen twin-tig jaar enorm gegroeid. De gezinnen zijn kleiner geworden. De algemene welvaart is


235

toegenomen. Ook de mobiliteit – en daarmee de gemiddelde woon-werkafstand –neemt toe. Dit heeft zijn weerslag op de privé-sfeer. De verschillen tussen mannen envrouwen op het gebied van de huishoudelijke arbeid worden kleiner, al blijven dezenog aanzienlijk omdat in Nederland vooral moeders vaak een parttime baan hebben.

Telethuiswerk en huishouding: een eerste verkenningMet de begrippen uit het huishoudkundig model en de maatschappelijke ontwikkelin-gen in het achterhoofd zijn in 1996 acht telewerkers geïnterviewd en is met nog eensacht een groepsdiscussie gevoerd. Verder is een aantal vragen over telewerken opge-nomen in een onderzoek naar computerbezit en –gebruik van marktonderzoeksbureauIDC-Benelux. Uit deze explorerende fase kwam naar voren dat veel telethuiswerkers,en vooral vrouwelijke telethuiswerkers, meer huishoudelijk werk gaan doen dan zijvoorheen deden. Zij zien werk liggen wat zij even tussendoor doen. Sommigen bes-luiten af te zien van betaalde huishoudelijke hulp, omdat zij ‘toch’ thuis zijn. Anderenlaten kinderen thuis lunchen die voorheen overbleven op school. Het zijn ook vooralvrouwen die aangeven gevoelig te zijn voor de druk van gezinsleden en anderen, wan-neer zij thuiswerken. Er wordt gemakkelijk aangenomen dat zij beschikbaar zijn.Hoewel velen zijn begonnen met thuiswerk om beroepsarbeid te kunnen combinerenmet de zorg voor kinderen, merken zij tegelijkertijd op dat werken met kinderen om jeheen niet goed gaat.

De geïnterviewde telewerkers beoordelen thuiswerk positief, maar zij geven welaan dat het soms moeilijk is om de grenzen tussen werk en privé te bewaken. De meestgehanteerde strategie daarvoor is het reproduceren van klassieke kantoortijden. Daar-mee zorgen zij er enerzijds voor genoeg te doen en zich niet te veel te laten afleiden.Anderzijds dient deze strategie er ook voor de thuiswerker te beschermen tegen te veelwerk. Dit laatste lijkt een grotere valkuil voor thuiswerkers dan het eerste.

Op grond van deze eerste resultaten zijn definitieve onderzoeksvragen en hypothe-sen geformuleerd. De vragen waren:

1. In welke mate verandert de externe arbeidsverdeling (de verdeling tussen betaaldwerk en onbetaald werk, de mate van uitbesteding naar de markt of zelfverzorging)wanneer mensen gaan telethuiswerken?

2. Hoe verandert de arbeidsverdeling tussen leden van een huishouden door tele-thuiswerk en hoe verandert de inhoud van de dagelijkse verzorging?

3. Hoe beoordelen huishoudens deze veranderingen en welke strategieën passen zij toeom eventuele negatieve gevolgen te minimaliseren; of is telethuiswerk zelf eenstrategie om wensen en mogelijkheden met elkaar in overeenstemming te brengen?

Verwacht werd dat in gezinsgerichte, asymmetrische huishoudens – dat wil zeggenhuishoudens waarin de man de hoofdkostwinner is en de vrouw in de eerste plaatshuisvrouw en moeder – telethuiswerk de asymmetrie versterkt. De vrouw zou meerhuishoudelijk werk gaan doen, zowel wanneer zij zelf gaat thuiswerken, als wanneerhaar man dat doet. In het laatste geval is er vaker iemand thuis en daardoor meer tedoen. Ook werd verwacht dat thuiswerkers minder uitbesteden en meer zelf doen. Alsmensen thuis gaan werken, komen betaalde arbeid en huishoudelijke arbeid onder el-kaars invloedssfeer. Naar verwachting zou de huishouding dan meer volgens de wettenvan het bedrijfsleven uitgevoerd worden, dat wil zeggen efficiënter en meer tijd-


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georiënteerd. De betaalde arbeid zou meer taakgeoriënteerd worden, omdat dezeminder binnen precieze tijden plaats hoeft te vinden. Hiermee komen we tot de vol-gende hypothesen:

In asymmetrische, gezinsgerichte huishoudens versterkt telethuiswerk deasymmetrie, zowel in huishoudens van vrouwelijke als van mannelijkethuiswerkers.

Hiervan afgeleid is een tweede hypothese:

Als gevolg van telethuiswerk verandert de houding ten aanzien van zowelonbetaalde, huishoudelijke arbeid als van betaalde arbeid. De eerste wordtmeer tijdgeoriënteerd, de tweede meer taakgeoriënteerd.

OnderzoeksontwerpOm bovenstaande hypothesen te testen is een enquête opgesteld en op het Internet ge-plaatst. Internet-enquêtes zijn snel, goedkoop, gemakkelijk te distribueren, niet op-dringerig en foutvrij. De resultaten kunnen direct verwerkt worden in een programmavoor statistische bewerking. Deze wijze van enquêteren leek gerechtvaardigd gezien dehoge penetratiegraad van Internet bij de doelgroep. Respondenten zijn benaderd viabedrijven met telewerkprojecten, die het adres van de enquête op hun eigen homepagezetten of hun werknemers er via e-mail op attendeerden. Op deze wijze zijn tussennovember 1999 en januari 2001 171 geldige formulieren ingestuurd.

Voor de enquête zijn de concepten uit het huishoudkundig model geoperational-iseerd. Centraal stonden negen huishoudelijke taken, waarvan gevraagd werd wie dezeuitvoert op thuiswerkdagen, op andere dagen en vóór de respondent begon metthuiswerken. Gevraagd werd of de respondent deze taken zelf deed, diens partner,samen of een ander. De taken waren: koken, afwassen, vegen en stofzuigen, de wasdoen, strijken en de was opruimen, voor de kinderen zorgen, ‘leuke’ dingen met dekinderen doen (voorlezen, spelen), kinderen van school halen, en dagelijkse bood-schappen doen. Daarnaast is een groot aantal statements opgenomen met motieven omthuis te werken en met meningen over taakverdeling, huishoudelijke arbeid entelethuiswerk. In enkele gevallen is een aantal vragen of statements samengevoegd toteen gecombineerde score. Dit is gedaan voor gezinsgerichtheid, carrièregerichtheid,egalitarisme en symmetrie. Deze laatste variabele geeft het verschil in aantal takenuitgevoerd door de man en de vrouw binnen een huishouden.

Omdat de onderzoeksvragen en de hypothesen verwijzen naar verschillen tussenmannen en vrouwen zijn de antwoorden op de meeste vragen weergegeven in de vormvan kruistabellen. De statistische significantie van de gevonden verschillen is getestmet behulp van de Chi-kwadraattoets.


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Resultaten van de enquête

Kenmerken van de respondentenDe enquête werd ingevuld door 171 respondenten, 100 mannen en 71 vrouwen; 153personen leefden samen of waren getrouwd met een partner van het andere geslacht.De gemiddelde leeftijd was 42 jaar, de jongste was 18, de oudste 71. De meeste man-nelijke respondenten (84%) hadden een fulltime baan; de vrouwen hadden grote part-time banen (17 uur per week of meer). Driekwart van de geënquêteerden (75%) werkteminder dan 16 uur per week thuis, verspreid over een aantal dagen per week (variërendvan 2 tot 5). Van de mannen kon 89 procent zijn eigen werkuren en –tempo bepalen,van de vrouwen 63 procent.

De woonsituatie speelde voor de meerderheid van de respondenten (71%) geen rolom te gaan telewerken. Wel was het zo dat degenen voor wie dit wel een rol speeldeverder van het kantoor van hun werkgever afwoonden dan de rest. Iets meer vrouwendan mannen (77% tegenover 68%) hechtten belang aan besparing van reistijd.

Voor 52 procent van de vrouwen en voor 36 procent van de mannen vormde ‘Wilzelf voor mijn kinderen zorgen’ een belangrijk argument om thuis te gaan werken.Overigens scoorden vrouwen niet hoger op gezinsgerichte motieven dan mannen. Car-rièregerichte motieven om thuis te werken werden vaker genoemd dan gezinsgerichte:79 procent van de respondenten vond het belangrijk dat zij zich thuis beter kunnenconcentreren en daardoor beter werk afleveren; 76 procent noemde het kunnen beslis-sen over eigen werktijden als belangrijk motief. Op de egalitarisme-schaal scoordenvrouwen iets hoger dan mannen: 50 procent van de vrouwen had zeer egalitaire opvat-tingen, tegenover 30 procent van de mannen; 40 procent had betrekkelijk egalitaireopvattingen tegenover 49 procent van de mannen. Ongeveer de helft van de deelnemers(48%) was van mening dat werk en vrije tijd zoveel mogelijk gescheiden zoudenmoeten worden; 60 procent was van mening dat telewerken helpt om betaald werk enkinderverzorging te combineren. Mannen waren vaker dan vrouwen van mening datmannen vanzelf meer huishoudelijk werk gaan doen als ze thuiswerken: 44 procent vande mannen was het met deze uitspraak eens; 31 procent van de vrouwen onderschreefdeze gedachte. Over dezelfde vraag ten aanzien van vrouwen waren de respondentenhet meer eens: 25 procent (23% van de mannen en 29% van de vrouwen, verschillenniet statistisch significant) meende dat vrouwen automatisch meer in huis gaan doen alsze thuiswerken.

Externe taakverdelingIn tegenstelling tot de verwachtingen bleek de externe taakverdeling – de verdelingtussen betaalde en onbetaalde arbeid en tussen markt en privé – weinig te veranderen.Wel gaf 17 procent van de gezinnen met kleine kinderen minder uit aan kinderopvangdan vóór de start van het telethuiswerk. Daar stond echter tegenover dat 14 procentmeer uitgaf aan kinderopvang. Ten aanzien van voeding en betaalde huishoudelijkehulp waren weinig veranderingen te zien. Ook werd uit de enquête niet duidelijk oftelewerken de mogelijkheid bood betaald werk te verrichten dat anders niet mogelijkzou zijn geweest.


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Interne taakverdelingDe interne taakverdeling veranderde wel degelijk onder invloed van telethuiswerk.Vergelijken we de resultaten van vóór de start van telewerk met die op thuiswerkdagen,dan zien we een toename voor alle negen taken. Zorg voor de kinderen, kinderen vanschool halen en koken veranderden het meest. De afwas en de dagelijkse schoonmaak-beurt veranderden het minst. De relatieve toename was voor mannen beduidend hogerdan voor vrouwen. Mannen haalden 7 keer vaker hun kinderen van school danvoorheen en zorgden er 4,6 keer zo vaak voor. Verder kookten zij 2,4 maal zo vaak alsvoorheen. Voor vrouwen was de relatieve toename slechts 1,8 voor kinderen vanschool halen, 2,3 voor kinderverzorging en 1,6 voor koken. Wassen en strijken blekende meest seksegebonden taken. Zij werden overwegend door vrouwen uitgevoerd.Afwassen was de taak die het minst door telewerken werd beïnvloed. Van degenen dieop thuiswerkdagen afwasten, deed 83 procent dat voorheen ook al.

In bovenstaande figuuur zijn de gegevens voor mannelijke en vrouwelijke telewerkersweergegeven. Het donkere vlak geeft aan hoeveel procent van de respondenten de be-treffende taak uitvoerde voordat met telewerken was begonnen. Het lichte vlak geeft depercentages op thuiswerkdagen. De verdeling tussen mannelijke en vrouwelijke re-spondenten zegt nog weinig over de taakverdeling binnen huishoudens. Als mannelijkerespondenten ‘ik’ antwoordden op de vraag ‘wie doet wat?’ en vrouwelijke respo n-denten ‘partner’, dan werd de taak door de man uitgevoerd; andersom, als vrouwen ‘ ik’antwoordden en mannen ‘partner’ dan was het de vrouw die de taak deed. Op diemanier bekeken verschilde de invloed van telewerking op de taakverdeling tussenmannen en vrouwen nog meer. Het percentage huishoudens waarin de vrouw de betref-fende taken uitvoerde nam voor de meeste taken nauwelijks toe. Voor koken, kinder-verzorging en activiteiten met kinderen nam dit percentage zelfs af ten opzichte van de

vrouwelijke respondenten

-

20

40

60

80koken

afwas

vegen /s tofzuigen

was

strijken /opruimen

kinderverzorging

activiteiten m.kinderen

kinderen vanschool

boodschappen

navoor

mannelijke respondenten

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20

40

60

80koken

afwas

vegen /stofzuigen

was

strijken /opruimen

kinderverzorging

activiteiten m.kinderen

kinderen vanschool

boodschappen


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situatie voordat thuisgewerkt werd. Voor de mannen namen alle activiteiten substan-tieel toe.

Om te bepalen of de taken binnen huishoudens symmetrisch verdeeld waren tussenman en vrouw, is geteld hoeveel taken elk van de partners deed, vermeerderd met dehelft van het aantal taken dat zij gezamenlijk uitvoerden. Voordat een van de partnersthuis ging werken voerden mannen gemiddeld 2 taken uit. Sinds er thuis gewerkt werdwas dit aantal op thuiswerkdagen opgelopen tot 2,4. Vrouwen hadden aanvankelijkgemiddeld 4,6 taken, op thuiswerkdagen werd dit voor hen gemiddeld 4,3. Was hetverschil in aantal taken tussen man en vrouw binnen een huishouden minder dan ofgelijk aan één, dan werd het huishouden als symmetrisch beschouwd. Bij een groterverschil was het asymmetrisch in traditionele zin (vrouw doet meer) of in niet-traditionele zin (man doet meer). Vóór de start van telethuiswerk was 61 procent vande huishoudens asymmetrisch in traditionele zin, waarvan 41 procent tamelijk tot sterkasymmetrisch was (vrouw doet vijf of meer taken méér dan de man). Nadat een vanbeide partners thuis was gaan werken daalde het percentage traditioneel asymmetrischehuishoudens van 61 naar 54 procent. De meeste huishoudens die asymmetrisch warenna de start van telethuiswerk, waren dat ook al voordien. Echter een zeer klein aantal(7%) werd nog asymmetrischer dan het al was. Het percentage symmetrischehuishoudens groeide van 29 naar 33 procent. Het percentage niet-traditionele asym-metrische huishoudens, waarin de man meer deed dan de vrouw, groeide van 6 tot 17procent.

De mate van verandering kon ook weer in een waarde uitgedrukt worden. Bij eenverschil tussen de oude en de nieuwe situatie van minder dan één werd gezegd dat hethuishouden geen veranderingen vertoonde. Dit gold voor 51 procent van dehuishoudens. In 18 procent van de huishoudens daalde de participatie van de man; dezewerden dus meer asymmetrisch; 31 procent van de huishoudens (48% van dehuishoudens met een mannelijke telewerker) werd meer symmetrisch.

Slechts een beperkt aantal kenmerken van de respondenten bleek verband te houdenmet de verandering in symmetrie of asymmetrie. De sekse van de respondent speeldeeen grote rol. Huishoudens die meer symmetrisch werden, hadden vrijwel altijd eenmannelijke telewerker. In huishoudens die meer asymmetrisch werden was de

meer a

symmetr

isch

geen

vera

nder

ing

meer s

ymmetr

isch

mannenvrouwen

totaal-

10

20

30

40

50

60

perc

enta

ges


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telewerker een vrouw. Verder bleek opleiding van invloed. De meer asymmetrischopererende vrouwelijke telethuiswerkers hadden overwegend een universitaire ople-iding. Een volgende belangrijke factor bleek het verdienerstype te zijn. Huishoudensvan alleenverdieners veranderden het minst hun taakverdeling. Huishoudens van an-derhalfverdieners (vrouw met parttime baan) werden relatief vaker meer asymmetrisch.Tweeverdieners kregen een meer symmetrische taakverdeling. Verder veranderdendegenen die twee tot drie jaar thuis werkten meer dan gemiddeld, zowel in de richtingvan meer symmetrie als van meer asymmetrie. Gezinnen met kleine kinderen werdenmeer symmetrisch. Opmerkelijk was het verband met de egalitaire houding van derespondenten. Deze leek omgekeerd evenredig met de mate van symmetrie. Een hogemate van egalitarisme ging samen met een meer asymmetrische taakverdeling en an-dersom: een lagere mate van egalitarisme ging samen met meer symmetrischehuishoudens. Andere dimensies van de normatieve context bleken geen samenhang tevertonen met de verandering in symmetrie.

Op grond van bovenstaande resultaten moet de voornaamste hypothese verworpenworden. Asymmetrische huishoudens worden niet nog asymmetrischer. Huishoudensvan mannelijke telewerkers worden vaker meer symmetrisch dan die van vrouwelijketelewerkers. De tweede hypothese wordt ten dele bevestigd. De houding ten opzichtevan de betaalde arbeid wordt inderdaad meer taakgericht, maar of dit het gevolg vantelewerken is, of dat telewerken en een meer taakgerichte houding beide passen inalgemene maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen is hier niet mee gezegd. Of de houding tenopzichte van de onbetaalde, huishoudelijke arbeid meer tijdgericht wordt, kan op grondvan deze resultaten niet geconcludeerd, noch verworpen worden.

TypologieDe onderzoeksresultaten kunnen gepresenteerd worden in de vorm van een typologie,ingedeeld naar het geslacht van de telethuiswerker enerzijds en de mate van verander-ing anderzijds. Dit levert theoretisch zes typen op, maar in het onderzoek blekenslechts vier typen in enige mate voor te komen:1. Huishoudens met een vrouwelijke telewerker die veranderden in een traditionele

richting (meer asymmetrisch; 16% van de gevallen).2. Huishoudens met een mannelijke telewerker die geen verandering in taakverdeling

vertoonden (28%).3. Huishoudens met een vrouwelijke telewerker die geen verandering in taakverdeling

vertoonden (22%).4. Huishoudens met een mannelijke telewerker die veranderden in de richting van een

meer symmetrische taakverdeling (29%).De eerste groep kan gekarakteriseerd worden met de term: ‘meer werk voor moeder’.De vertegenwoordigster van deze groep deelde voorheen vrijwel alle taken met haarpartner. Sinds zij thuiswerkt doet zij de meeste van de negen taken. Alleen de afwaswordt gedeeld. Haar partner draagt enige mate bij aan de was en aan activiteiten met dekinderen en de boodschappen. Ondanks de geringe bijdrage van haar partner, vindt zijdat huishouding en kinderverzorging de gezamenlijke verantwoordelijkheid zijn vanman en vrouw.


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De tweede groep, de mannelijke telewerkers die niet veranderen, is genoemd:‘gedeelde verantwoordelijkheid’. Deze huishoudens kennen weliswaar een asy m-metrische taakverdeling – zij doet vijf taken, ze delen er vier – maar de man draagt welbij aan de taken die zij uitvoert. Hij haalt zo nu en dan de kinderen van school en wilook wel eens schoonmaken of de was doen.

De derde groep wordt gekenmerkt door ‘bestendigde sekseverschillen’. Zij doet zestaken, ze delen er drie (de afwas, activiteiten met kinderen en, in mindere mate, kinder-verzorging). Hij draagt nauwelijks bij aan de overige taken.

Tot slot de groep die meer symmetrisch wordt: ‘mannen nemen het over’. De vert e-genwoordiger van deze groep kookt, zorgt voor de kinderen, haalt de kinderen vanschool en doet de dagelijkse boodschappen. Zijn partner doet nog steeds de was en destrijk. Bovendien maakt zij schoon, tenzij deze taak is uitbesteed. De afwas en de ac-tiviteiten met kinderen doen ze samen.

Bespreking van de resultatenDe uitkomsten van de enquête waren verrassend. Aangenomen was dat mannelijketelewerkers niet automatisch meer huishoudelijk werk zouden gaan doen als zij thuisgingen werken. Vrouwelijke telethuiswerkers zouden daarentegen wel meer huishou-delijke taken op zich nemen, vooral in huishoudens waarin de taakverdeling al asym-metrisch was vóór zij thuis gingen werken. Gezinnen die een meer gelijke taakver-deling nastreefden zouden telethuiswerk kunnen gebruiken als strategie om dit teverwezenlijken. Verder werd verondersteld dat telewerken de mate van thuis-productiezou vergroten. Verwacht werd dat gezinsgerichte vrouwen een verandering in derichting van een versterking van de huisvrouwenrol positief zouden waarderen, terwijlcarrièregerichte vrouwen dit negatief zouden beoordelen.

Geen van de bovenstaande aannames werd door de enquête overtuigend onder-steund. De helft van de mannelijke respondenten nam meer huishoudelijke taken opzich, bij meer dan de helft van de vrouwelijke respondenten veranderde de taakver-deling binnenshuis niet. De toename bij mannelijke respondenten was verhoudingsge-wijs veel groter dan bij vrouwelijke respondenten. Asymmetrische huishoudens werdenna de start van telethuiswerk niet nog asymmetrischer. Er zijn geen aanwijzingengevonden dat telewerk gehanteerd werd als strategie om een meer gelijke verdeling vanhuishoudelijk werk te realiseren.

Een deel van de uitkomsten kan verklaard worden uit de methodologischebeperkingen van het onderzoek. De aantallen respondenten waren betrekkelijk klein ende vragenlijst was lang, zodat het mogelijk is dat vooral respondenten met belangstel-ling voor huishoudelijk werk de vragenlijst hebben ingevuld. De lengte van de lijstirriteerde sommige respondenten. Enkelen vonden de vragen tendentieus. Opmerkelijkgenoeg vond een deel van hen dat de auteur teveel uitging van het traditionele gezin,terwijl een ander deel aangaf dat de onderzoekster teveel gericht zou zijn op een gelijkeverdeling van taken. Een schriftelijke enquête is minder geschikt voor het waarnemenvan daadwerkelijk gedrag en minder geschikt voor niet helemaal uitgekristalliseerdeonderwerpen. Alleen bij de open vragen was het mogelijk echt genuanceerde antwoor-den te geven. Bovendien valt niet te controleren in hoeverre respondenten sociaalwenselijke antwoorden hebben gegeven en of zij hun eigen aandeel in de huishouding


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al dan niet hebben overschat. De enquête vroeg verder alleen naar wie een bepaaldetaak uitvoerde, niet wie er allemaal aan bijdroeg. Ook de hoeveelheid tijd die aan deverschillende taken werd besteed is niet nagegaan.

Vergelijken wij de resultaten met recente literatuur, dan blijken deze daar in zekeremate mee in overeenstemming te zijn. Mannen vertonen in het algemeen een toene-mende belangstelling voor huishoudelijk werk en kinderverzorging. In situaties waarinvrouwen buitenshuis werken en mannen thuis zijn, nemen zij vaker ‘automatisch’huishoudelijke taken op zich. Sinds de interviews in 1996 lijken vrouwen zich beter tekunnen weren tegen de druk van anderen die menen dat zij ‘toch’ thuis zijn, en dus welmee kunnen winkelen, een kind van school halen, leveranciers ontvangen en andereactiviteiten uitvoeren die niet tot de betaalde arbeid behoren. Recent onderzoek toontaan dat vrouwen meer te lijden hebben van de toenemende druk van het betaalde werk,dan mannen van hun grotere bijdrage aan de huishouding. Telewerken kán voor som-mige vrouwen uitkomst bieden. Vooral vrouwen met een academische opleiding lijkenop deze wijze kinderen en werk goed te kunnen combineren en kiezen zo voor hetbeste van twee werelden. Juist hun huishoudens werden meer asymmetrisch.

De resultaten van dit onderzoek wijzen op een grote mate van pluriformiteit. Veelrespondenten merkten op dat zij sommige vragen niet goed konden beantwoorden om-dat hun situatie er niet in paste, of omdat de voorgestructureerde antwoordcategorieëngeen ruimte lieten voor gemengde gevoelens en genuanceerde meningen. Ook blekensommige respondenten zowel hoog te scoren op gezinsgerichte motieven als op car-rièregerichte motieven. Telewerkers met een egalitaire opvatting hoefden nog geenegalitaire taakverdeling te hebben en andersom. Deze veelzijdigheid sluit aan bij deeerder genoemde modularisering, flexibilisering en individualisering in het dagelijksleven.

Door telewerken vervagen de grenzenZes jaar liggen tussen de start van dit onderzoek en het verschijnen van deze disserta-tie. Toen ik begon hadden nog maar weinig auteurs aandacht besteed aan dehuishoudelijke aspecten van telethuiswerk. Telewerk zelf stond – ook al was het begripal twintig jaar oud – nog in de kinderschoenen. In die tijd kende het fenomeen vooralfelle voor- en tegenstanders, die het idealiseerden of verwierpen. In die zes jaar is desituatie veranderd. Er wordt veel genuanceerder over het onderwerp gedacht.Telewerken is niet alleen thuiswerken; een telewerker hoeft niet altijd op afstand tewerken; telewerken is: werken daar waar het voor alle partijen het beste uitkomt.Telewerken staat inmiddels op de agenda van managers en beleidsmakers en speelt eenrol bij organisatorische en technische vernieuwingen, inclusief nieuwbouwplannen.

Paradoxaal genoeg neemt de belangstelling voor telewerkprojecten als zodanig af.De vereiste technologie en organisatorische uitgangspunten maken deel uit van reor-ganisatieprocessen in het algemeen, waardoor aparte aandacht steeds minder nodig is.Tegelijkertijd dringt de werksfeer steeds meer door in het dagelijks leven, waardoor destudie van de privé-sfeer belangrijker wordt. Juist in die sfeer liggen normen enwaarden, gelijkheid en verschil, opvattingen over mannen en vrouwen opgesloten.Naast telewerken vergen ook andere maatschappelijk belangrijke kwesties als voedsel-veiligheid, energieconsumptie, individualisering en flexibilisering, inzicht in het func-


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tioneren van huishoudens. Maar terwijl het belang ervan toeneemt, wordt destudierichting huishoudwetenschappen, niet alleen aan Wageningen Universiteit, maaroveral in de wereld, gemarginaliseerd en ondergebracht bij andere studies alsbedrijfskunde of marketing. Algemeen wordt de omkering van de productieketen – vaneen aanbod-economie naar een vraag-economie – beschouwd als één van de centralekenmerken van de moderne samenleving. Deze omkering betekent ook dat de tegen-stelling tussen producent en consument niet meer zo scherp zou zijn als die ten tijdevan de industrialisatie was. Deze veranderingen vormen de legitimering voor de nieuwte vormen studierichtingen en kunnen er een nieuwe impuls aan geven. Huishoudkun-digen zullen er echter voor moeten waken dat de verworvenheden van hun vakgebiedbehouden blijven, met name de kennis en vaardigheden op het gebied van dehuishoudelijke arbeid en een interdisciplinaire, integratieve benadering. Dezebenadering heeft altijd het hart van de studierichting gevormd en vormde ook de basisvoor dit onderzoek.

Voorwoord in het Nederlands

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"Weet je wat jij moet doen? Jij moet promoveren", zei mijn collega René Kapr ergensin 1994. Hij was niet de enige die dat vond. Mijn achterbuurman Wim van den Bergonderhield mij minstens eens per jaar over dit onderwerp. Ik wilde wel, maar alleen alsik een onderwerp had dat mij voldoende boeide en waar ik genoeg maatschappelijkerelevantie in zag. Dat onderwerp moest liggen op het grensvlak van informatie- ofcommunicatietechnologie en huishoudstudies. Het eerste omdat ik daar dagelijkswerkzaam in was aan de School voor Communicatiesystemen aan de Hogeschool vanUtrecht, het tweede omdat ik daarin ben opgeleid aan Wageningen Universiteit.

‘De verandering van de huishouding als gevolg van informatie- en communicatie-technologie’ was zo'n onderwerp. Maar Paul Terpstra, hoogleraar consumentntech-nogie en productgebruik, zei: "Ik weet niet of je wel zo oud wordt dat je dat allemaalkunt onderzoeken." ICT werd verbijzonderd tot: tele(thuis)werk; de huishouding werdingeperkt tot huishoudelijke arbeid en met name de taakverdeling binnenshuis, vooraldie tussen mannen en vrouwen. Omdat dit meer een sociologisch dan technologischonderzoek zou worden kwam Anke Niehof, hoogleraar sociologie van consumenten enhuishoudens, erbij als promotor.

Nu had ik een onderwerp, een promotor en een co-promotor. Nu nog een structuurwaarbinnen dit onderzoek gedaan zou kunnen worden. Die structuur bood het project'Onbezoldigd promoveren voor vrouwen', dat acht promovendi binnen WageningenUniversiteit de secundaire arbeidsvoorzieningen van een AIO verleent, en de status vanmedewerker. Daardoor kreeg ik een kamer op de afdeling en werd ik opgenomen in hetgroepje AIO’s aldaar. De vele discussies met Arianne Baanders, Iris Keasberry, K a-trien Luijkx, Gerry van Nieuwenhoven, Danny Roozemond and Diana Uitdenbogerdtijdens de lunch of de etentjes bij een van ons thuis, hielpen mij zeer bij de ontwik-keling van mijn gedachten.

Hoewel het onderwerp van mijn onderzoek niet direct voortkwam uit de behoeftevan de School voor Communicatiesystemen (SvC), was er wel degelijk van synergiesprake. Ten eerste vergrootte het lezen van wetenschappelijke publicaties invloed mijnkennis, waardoor ik ongetwijfeld een betere docent werd. De colleges onderzoekstech-nieken kon ik verlevendigen met voorbeelden uit de eigen praktijk. Ten tweede vond iktijdens de verschillende congressen en andere bijeenkomsten die ik in dit verband be-zocht steeds weer stageplaatsen, opdrachten voor modules van de SvC en interessantegastsprekers. In dit verband wil ik met name Kitty de Bruin, Phil Lyon, Herman Leij-


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desdorff en Bert Alkemade noemen. Ten derde lag het voor de hand een student van deSvC te vragen mijn vragenlijst om te bouwen tot een Internet-applicatie. Martijn vanRooijen heeft dat voortreffelijk gedaan. Officieel bood de school niet meer dan een dagonbezoldigd verlof voor de duur van het project. Onofficieel hebben mijn respectiev-elijke bazen – Ben Philipsen, Djujan Bijstra and Arnoud van de Vijver – mij steedsmoreel gesteund en heeft Cita Buitenhuis bij de roostering steeds rekening gehoudenmet mijn tweede 'baan'.

De internationale congressen, zowel op het gebied van de Huishoudkunde (Dundee,Wageningen) als met telematica en telewerken als onderwerp (Kopenhagen, Rome,Turku, Tokyo en Amsterdam) leverden mij niet alleen kennis en contacten op, maarwaren vooral goed als stok achter de deur en als check of ik wel met iets zinnigs bezigwas. De in Finland gewonnen ‘Best Academic Paper Award’ was daar natuurlijk hetultieme bewijs van. Ik was niet alleen daarom zo blij met die prijs. Ik vond het ook eenopsteker voor de huishoudstudies als geheel. De prijs vormde het bewijs dat dehuishouding de moeite waard is om bestudeerd te worden en dat de huishoudkunde eenbijdrage kan leveren aan de internationale discussie.

Veel dank ben ik verschuldigd aan de geïnterviewden en respondenten in de ver-schillende fasen van het onderzoek, die geheel belangeloos mee wilden praten of delange vragenlijst hebben ingevuld. Zonder hen was ik nooit verder dan een litera-tuurstudie gekomen. De meeste van hen vond ik via de Stichting Telewerkforum, diemij voorzag van adressen en namen van contactpersonen van bedrijven met telewerk-projecten en een aanbevelingsbrief voor mij stuurde. Ook heeft Dries van Wagenberg,hoogleraar facilitaire dienstverlening, mij geholpen met het zoeken naar respondenten.IDC-Benelux bood mij in 1996 de fantastische gelegenheid een aantal vragen mee telaten liften op hun grote onderzoek naar computerbezit en –gebruik. Als tegenprestatieschreef ik mee aan het door hen uitgebrachte rapport over telewerken en mobile com-puting.

De kwaliteit van dit proefschrift is voor een belangrijk deel te danken aan dewaardevolle opmerkingen van Anke Niehof. Zij heeft de verschillende conceptensteeds grondig gelezen en van commentaar voorzien, variërend van opmerkingen overde lay-out tot suggesties voor literatuur of de structuur van dit proefschrift. Deze op-merkingen waren steeds nuttig en verbeterden het werk. De kritische kanttekeningenvan Paul Terpstra waren zeker zo waardevol. Afbakening was vooral zijn kracht. Vanonschatbare waarde was de bemoeienis van Phil Lyon. Zijn commentaar strekte veelverder dan het Engels dat hij zou redigeren. Met een beleefd "You are Anke's student,but…" of “ I realise that I am not your supervisor and I have only a UK perspective onPhD dissertations,” heeft hij grote invloed gehad op volgorde en inhoud van het ver-haal. Bovendien bleef hij mij aanmoedigen als ik het niet meer zag zitten en vrolijktehij mij op met zijn Internet-grappen. Phil, thank you so much for your tele-support. Hetuiterlijk van dit proefschrift dank ik aan mijn Utrechtse collega Inge Schaareman, diein staat bleek om de inhoud in één beeld te vangen. Haar ontwerp stemt vrolijk en datis goed, want tegen het eind van het project zou ik bijna vergeten met hoeveel plezierik eraan heb gewerkt.

In de laatste fase kwamen mijn vriendinnen en vrienden, mijn buren en mijn mede-redactieleden van IJslandse Paarden mij op verwachte en onverwachte momenten tehulp, door eten voor mij te koken of mij mee uit te nemen, door mijn ingestorte boek-


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enkast en mijn heiningen te repareren, door ideeën voor conclusies aan te dragen ennaar mij te luisteren, door mij midden in de nacht op te bellen en mij in slaap te praten,door taken van mij over te nemen en mij te ontzien. Zij zorgden ervoor dat ik nog enigelichaamsbeweging kreeg toen ik dreigde te vervetten, zij moedigden mij aan en sprakenlovende woorden. Zij zorgden dat ik geen kluizenaar werd en boven alles: zij maaktenmij aan het lachen op de momenten dat de tranen dicht aan de oppervlakte zaten. Om-dat ik niet iedereen met name kan noemen en niemand te kort wil doen, hier alleen denamen van mijn twee beste vriendinnen: Roelie van Opijnen en Corrie Brussé. Jullienamen zijn verbonden met ontspanning, vooral gedurende de vele vakanties die ik metelk van jullie heb doorgebracht. Meiden, bedankt voor jullie steun en alle afleiding.

Het is jammer dat mijn vader dit niet meer mee kan maken. Kort voor zijn doodheeft hij zijn gehele niet geringe verzameling dichtbundels doorgespit op zoek naar‘The song of the shirt’ . Hij moest en zou het vinden, vooral omdat hij vond dat ik deovereenkomsten tussen telewerk en het traditionele thuiswerk te veel verwaarloosde.Zijn moeite werd beloond en het resultaat verraste hem. Het gedicht bleek meer daneen halve eeuw ouder dan hij in zijn hoofd had. Het zou hem deugd hebben gedaan omte zien dat het een prominente plaats heeft gekregen in het hoofdstuk over telewerk.Mijn moeder – met wie hij meer dan 66 jaar getrouwd is geweest – zal wel bij de verd-ediging van mijn proefschrift zijn, naar ik verwacht in goede gezondheid. Zij heeft zelfdie doctors titel nooit gehaald, maar had dat makkelijk gekund als zij er niet voor hadgekozen in de eerste plaats moeder en echtgenote te zijn. Aan haar wil ik dit proef-schrift opdragen.

Rhenen,september 2001

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Curriculum Vitae

Gerda Casimir was born on 2 September 1950 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. In 1968she completed her secondary education and went to Wageningen University, where shechose the subject area Home Economics with the specialisation household equipment.Stimulated by activities outside the study program, among other things political theatre,her attention shifted to socio-economic subjects. In 1977 she graduated with a variedset of subjects. Pedagogy and didactics was one of them.

The job at the teacher training college of the Utrecht Institute of Higher Educationlinked very well with this study program. From 1977 to 1985 she worked at the de-partment of home economics, since 1983 also at information science. In 1985 she wasposted at the NIVO-project, Nieuwe Informatietechnologie in het Voortgezet Onder-wijs, a project for the introduction of informatics in secondary education. There she co-ordinated the retraining of teachers and edited the textbook for these courses. The proj-ect finished by the end of 1988. At that time the Institute of Higher Education prepareda project that would lead to the establishing of a new program Communication Sys-tems. Gerda was involved in this program and worked there as a teacher and developer.Since 1995 she worked – next to her job in Utrecht – on the research resulting in thisdissertation. So she combined the area in which she was educated with the knowledgeand expertise in information science and communication systems. This generalisticorientation is also reflected in the list of publications below.

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Curriculum Vitae

Gerda Casimir is geboren op 2 september 1950 in Eindhoven. In 1968 behaalde zij haar6�7!8:9*6(;:<(=>6(8@?)A*=B8C<EDF7!GC=IHKJ L�L(M@NCOQPSRUTWV�O(M*PYXZR\[:]�O(^*_a`!M@bc`�M:d)N:TWeCO(Mgf�hi` jlkC`�MCkmL�L(MndoOtoenmalige Landbouwhogeschool in Wageningen studeren en koos na de propedeusevoor de studierichting huishoudwetenschappen, met de specialisatie huishoudelijkeapparatuur. Mede door activiteiten buiten haar studie, waaronder het politiek theater,verschoof haar belangstelling naar meer sociaal-economische onderwerpen. In 1977studeerde zij af met een breed vakkenpakket. Naast de huishoudkunde waren haar af-studeervakken de woning en haar bewoning en de pedagogiek en algemene didactiek.

De baan bij de Stichting Opleiding Leraren – later opgegaan in de Hogeschool vanUtrecht – sloot goed op deze vakkenkeuze aan. Van 1977 tot 1985 werkte zij bij devakgroep huishoudkunde, vanaf 1983 ook bij informatiekunde. In 1985 werd zij gede-tacheerd bij het NIVO-project, Nieuwe Informatietechnologie in het Voortgezet On-derwijs, waar zij de bijscholing van docenten coördineerde en het daarbij horendecursusboek redigeerde. Dit project liep tot eind 1988. Op dat moment was bij de hoge-school een project in voorbereiding dat uiteindelijk tot de studierichting Communica-tiesystemen zou leiden. Gerda werd bij deze voorbereiding betrokken en heeft totheden als docente en onderwijsontwikkelaar bij deze opleiding gewerkt. Sinds 1995werkte zij naast haar baan aan de hogeschool aan het onderzoek, waarvan deze disser-tatie de neerslag vormt. Hierin combineerde zij het vakgebied waarin zij is opgeleidmet kennis van de informatiekunde en de communicatiesystemen. Deze brede oriënta-tie blijkt ook uit onderstaande publicatielijst.

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Scientific and other related publications of G.J. Casimir

Cursus Oriëntatie op Informatica. De Westpoort, Rhenen. Eerste uitgave ca. 1985,jaarlijks bijgesteld tot 2000.

Telewerken en –leren. Cahier nr. 21. HvU-Press, Utrecht 1999. 48 p.Domestic labour division in telecommuters' families. Proceedings of the fourth

international telework workshop "Telework strategies for the new workforce",Tokyo August 31 - September 3, 1999. International Telework Foundation,International Flexwork Forum. Tokyo, 1999. p. 69-80

Notions from the home; changes in household activities due to telecommuting.Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Telework, Turku, Finland,September 1-4 1998. Winnaar Best Academic Paper Award.

Telecommuting and household activities. Lifestyle 2000; consumer issues towardsthe millennium. Conference proceedings of the XVIII Conference of ConsumerStudies (Dundee 3-5 September 1997). School of Management and ConsumerStudies, University of Dundee, Scotland UK. 1997. 5 p.

Elektronische snelweg: de weg naar de toekomst? Van klinkers en koper totinternationaal verkeer en teledemocratie. Digitale snelweg: kans of bedreiging?Verslag van de studieochtend over de elektronische snelweg tijdens deHuishoudbeurs, Amsterdam, 3 april 1997. RAI, Amsterdam, 1997. pp. 3-7.

Nieuwe docenten door nieuwe technologieën? Samenvatting congresbijdragen;congresmap Nationale Informatica Onderwijs Conferentie '97. 13-14 maart 1997.NIOC, Den Haag, 1997. 1 p.

Nieuwe media vragen nieuwe docenten. Tinfon, Tijdschrift voor informatica-onderwijs. (1997) 6 (1) p. 43-45.

Telewerken en mobile computing 1996-2000; een IDC onderzoek naar ITcocooners en IT nomaden. Intern rapport IDC, Amsterdam, 1996. 95 p.(Ringband). Met S. Vernooij.

Als je toch thuis bent... Telewerken (1996) (sept/okt.). p. 16-19.Onderwijs met en over Internet. Tinfon, tijdschrift voor informatica-onderwijs

(1995) 4 (4). p. 147-149.Man over de vloer; telethuiswerk en huishoudelijke arbeid. Telewerken, tijdschrift

voor arbeidsorganisatie, management, werkplekinrichting, data- entelecommunicatie (1995) 2 (4).

De toepassing van nieuwe media in de voorlichting. Studiedag VVO, 27 april 1995.De tweede jeugd van Videotex-Nederland. NGI-magazine (1994) 9 (10). p.10-11.

Met M. van Lieshout.De digitale stad. NGI-magazine (1994) 9 (8), p.10-11. Ook opgenomen in: ABN

AMRO ComputerClub (1994) 17e nieuwsbrief (december). p. 21-22. Met M. vanLieshout.

The influence of telematics on the household. Bjerg, K. and K. Booreby (ed.) Home-oriented informatics, telematics and automation; proceedings of a cross-disciplinary international working conference, University of Copenhagen, June27th - July 1st, 1994. Psychological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, 1994.p. 221-226.

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Toepassingen van nieuwe communicatietechnieken. M. Schoenmacker (eindred.).Studiedag Nieuwe communicatie-ontwikkelingen om je doelgroep te bereiken.Amsterdam, 14 april 1994. Vereniging voor Overheidscommunicatie, CommissiePublieksvoorlichting in samenwerking met Directie ToepassingCommunicatietechniek (DTC) van de Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, Den Haag, 1994. 5p.

Communicatiesystemen; de brug tussen techniek en gebruik. Cahier nr. 6.Phaedon, Culemborg, 1993.

De grenzen aan SDM. Tijdschrift Vrouwen en Informatica (1993) maart (25).Telematica uit en thuis. Congres VenI (VidI VicI?) ter gelegenheid van het 10-jarig

bestaan van Vrouwen en Informatica. Amsterdam, november 1991.Interactief communiceren bij de Hogeschool Midden Nederland. Nationaal

Informatica Onderwijs Congres 1990. Den Haag, 1991.Basiskennis Telematica. Leerboeken Praktijkdiploma Informatica. Academic Service,

Schoonhoven, 1991. 243 p.Onderwijs en Informatietechnologie in de Toekomst. NIVO-brochurereeks, deel 7.

APS, Amsterdam, 1988.Goed geïnformeerd; vrouwen oriënteren zich op informatica. Werkboeken

Politieke Vorming van Vrouwen. Stichting Burgerschapskunde, in samenwerkingmet de Stichting Vrouwen en Informatica, Leiden, juli 1988. 120 p. Met J. Spetter.

Vrouw en Computer; cursusboek bij de gelijknamige Teleac-serie. (Eindredactieen hoofdstuk) Teleac, Utrecht, maart 1988. 169 p. Met H. van der Wal.

NIVO-basiscursus informatiekunde; theorieboek. (Eindredactie en enkelehoofdstukken) Uitgeverij NIB, Zeist, 1987. 317 p. Met C. Nagtegaal.

Verzorging; werkdocument basisvorming in het onderwijs. Een studie verricht inopdracht van de Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid tervoorbereiding van het WRR-rapport over basisvorming in het onderwijs. WB 8, 's-Gravenhage, 1985. 75 p. Met G. Wieggers.

Daar zorgen we voor; vijftien visies op ontwikkelingen in de dagelijkseverzorging. Vereniging voor Huishoudkunde, Wageningen, november 1984. 148 p.Met J. van den Berg.

Geen huishouden van Jan Steen; over huishoudkunde voor iedereen in hetvoortgezet basisonderwijs. Middenschool in beeld. Stichting voor deLeerplanontwikkeling, Enschede, 1984. 89 p.

Konsumptie naar Behoefte; over de invloed en positie van de konsument. DeUitbuyt, Wageningen, 1982 (2e druk 1984). 126 p.

Stellingen

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Stellingenbehorende bij het proefschrift

The impact of telecommuting on the division oflabour in the domestic setting

Gerda J. Casimir, 2001

1. Thuiswerkers verrichten meer huishoudelijk werk; de toename voor mannen isgroter dan voor vrouwen. (Dit proefschrift)

2. Een egalitaire opvatting over de verdeling van huishoudelijke taken is geen garantievoor een meer gelijke verdeling daarvan. (Dit proefschrift)

3. Naarmate het voor het werk minder belangrijk wordt waar je woont, is het mogelijkmeer belang te hechten aan wáár je woont.

4. Het gaat mannen beter af om meer huishoudelijke arbeid te verrichten dan dat hetvrouwen goed afgaat om meer betaalde arbeid te verrichten.

5. Naarmate de toegankelijkheid van Internet toeneemt, zal enquêteren via dat mediumgoedkoper, sneller en betrouwbaarder worden.

6. Het "Project onbezoldigd promoveren voor vrouwen" komt tegemoet aan de practi-cal gender needs van vrouwen maar biedt geen oplossing voor hun strategic gen-der needs. (Carolyn Moser 1993: Gender Planning and Development)

7. Software-ontwerpers en inrichters van tentoonstellingen hebben met elkaar gemeendat zij weinig oog lijken te hebben voor de visuele mogelijkheden en onmogelijk-heden van hun doelgroep. (Met dank aan R. Casimir)

8. Huishoudelijk werk ter afwisseling van betaalde arbeid is een goede stressbestrijder.(Met dank aan F. Stegeman)

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